Masan Yongma High School pitcher Jang Hyun-seok announced his official departure as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
On the 14th, the Dodgers team held 스포츠토토 a ceremony for Chang Hyun-seok in Seoul. It has been five days since he announced on the 9th that he signed a signing contract with a signing bonus of $ 900,000.
On this day, through an official interview, Jang Hyun-suk said, “I didn’t know I would join the Dodgers, but it’s an honor. I knew that you were interested in watching me for a long time, but I never thought I would sign a contract like this.” He also shared his aspirations, saying, “I want to be a player like Clayton Kershaw, and I want to play against Shohei Ohtani.”
Although the signing bonus did not reach the $1 million received by players in the first and second rounds of the major league draft, it should be seen that the amount fully reflected the expectations the Dodgers have for a Korean high school senior.
The reason the Dodgers scouted Hyun-Seok Jang is entirely because he has a fast ball.
Jang Hyun-seok’s main weapon is a fastball that can reach up to 157 km. He is also evaluated as having excellent command of breaking pitches such as slider, sweeper, curveball, and changeup. He appeared in 9 games on the national stage this year, threw 29 innings, gave up 9 hits and 19 on 4 walks, struck out 52, posted an ERA of 0.93 and a WHIP of 0.79.
If he is 1m90 tall and can throw various breaking balls at a high level, he might be dominating the major league mound as the ace of the Dodgers in a few years.
Dodgers fan media Dodger Blue said, “It is unlikely that Jang Hyun-seok will immediately enter the top 10 prospects of the Dodgers, but he has tremendous potential and will show rapid growth once he enters the professional league.” To expand their bonus pool, they recently traded prospects Aldrin Batista and Maximo Martinez to the Chicago White Sox.”
It is known that the bonus pool that the Dodgers took over when they sent two prospects in the team to the White Sox was about $1 million. It means that he put a lot of effort into Jang Hyun-seok. Scout director John Dibble, who attended the initiation ceremony, said, “I valued the competitive spirit and fighting spirit as much as the restraint,” and said, “Especially, the curve reminds me of Josh Beckett.”
Jang Hyun-seok is the fourth player ever to sign a Korean amateur pitcher, following Park Chan-ho in 1994, Jeong Seok in 1998, and Choi Hyun-il in 2018.
Considering his physique, position, and type of pitch, Jang Hyun-seok resembles Park Chan-ho 30 years ago. When the Dodgers participated in the 1993 Buffalo Summer Universiade, they were fascinated by Park’s 157km fastball. It is worth dreaming of a ‘second Korean express’ in that Jang Hyun-seok was also attracted to the 157km fastball.
After finishing his sophomore year at Hanyang University, Park Chan-ho, who wore a Dodgers uniform, went directly to the major leagues with Darren Dryport, a motive for joining the team in 1994, but in reality settled down in the major leagues in 1996 after strengthening his skills in the minor leagues for two years.
As the scouting director of Dibble said, “The goal is to send him to the education league starting in October,” Jang Hyun-seok is expected to start his professional career in the US by participating in the Arizona Fall League. He will naturally participate in minor league spring training in March next year to find his level belonging to the minor league, and will begin earnestly preparing for the big league.
Jang Hyun-seok, born in March 2004, will spend his 20-year-old season next year. Given that Park Chan-ho spent his first full-time season in the major leagues at the age of 23, Jang Hyun-suk needs to target 2027. It is the right time and age. If it’s too late, he crossed the Pacific Ocean as a ‘super high school level pitcher’, but he should remember that he could follow the footsteps of many seniors who returned after eating only ‘bread soaked in tears’ for years.