Why Dodgers prospect Hyun-Seok Jang could become one of MLB’s next Korean stars
SEOUL — During a workout at Dodgers spring training, Rob Hill was stopped by a bystander confused by a case of mistaken identity.
The person had seen Hill, the Dodgers’ director of minor league pitching, talking with a tall, lanky, athletic Asian player on the backfields at Camelback Ranch.
Was that, the bystander asked, two-time MVP Shohei Ohtani?
No, Hill politely informed them. The player in question was Korean prospect Hyun-Seok Jang.
While Ohtani and fellow Japanese star Yoshinobu Yamamoto have dominated headlines, club officials quietly have raved about the other talented Asian addition embarking on his first spring with the team.
The Dodgers officially unveil the most anticipated lineup in their history on Wednesday against the Padres in Seoul. Will it be enough in the postseason?
Jang, a 20-year-old right-handed pitcher who signed for $900,000 last year, doesn’t have the name recognition of a big league standout yet. But the club hopes in several years he’ll stage his own MLB ascension — one the team never got to experience with Ohtani more than a decade ago.
When Ohtani was coming out of high school in 2012, the Dodgers attempted to persuade him to move to the United States. They were enamored with his capabilities as a pitcher. They visualized his road to stardom. And, had Ohtani’s preference to remain a two-way player not persuaded him to stay in Japan and play in the Nippon Professional Baseball league, he might have been a Dodger long before signing his record $700-million contract this offseason.
Last summer Jang faced a similar set of circumstances, albeit without the two-way ability.
A native of Changwon, a port city on South Korea’s southern coast, Jang emerged as not only the nation’s top high school player but also one of its more promising pitching prospects in recent memory.
He has all the tools of a future major league starter, from his 6-foot-4 frame to his upper-90s fastball to an array of breaking pitches that can induce swings and misses.
Like Ohtani, he had the option to bide his time playing in his country — where he was widely expected to be the No. 1 pick in the most recent KBO League draft.
“He would’ve started in the KBO, at the top level, right away,” said Daniel Kim, an independent South Korean journalist who has contributed to ESPN’s coverage of the nation’s domestic league. “If you’re a top one, two, three [high school] player, you get a lot of recognition.”
However, in what was a relatively polarizing move in South Korea, Jang decided to forge a different path.
For a Japanese athlete like Shohei Ohtani to be embraced by South Koreans to this degree is extraordinary, considering the history between their countries.
As he neared the end of high school, he announced his intention to sign with an MLB team. Last August the Dodgers secured his signature. And now the team — which opened its season Wednesday in Seoul against the San Diego Padres — is hoping he can become its next Korean success story, following in the footsteps of star pitchers such as Chan Ho Park and Hyun-Jin Ryu.
“We see a future with top-of-the-rotation starter stuff,” Hill said. “It’s just a matter of getting there and doing it. He can do so much with the ball. He’s so adept at trying to improve. I think the sky’s the limit.”
Jang, who declined an interview request for this story, explained at the time of his signing that he wanted to move to the U.S. to expedite his path to the majors. He noted the advanced infrastructure of MLB clubs for pitching development, from advanced analysis to high-tech training facilities. He said he was eager to face American competition, despite the unglamorous minor league lifestyle of small towns and long bus trips that comes with it.
Most of all, he wanted to test himself competitively, unafraid of uprooting his life and moving 6,000 miles away to a country where he speaks little English — though more every day, Hill said).
“It was a tough decision for me because I dreamed of pitching both in the KBO and MLB,” Jang said in a statement last August, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency. “But ultimately, I wanted to challenge myself in the best league in the world and decided to take a crack at MLB.”
To Dodgers executives, it was the last piece of confirmation they needed.
“It’s a really good indication of makeup and work ethic,” general manager Brandon Gomes said of Jang’s decision.
Added Hill: “He’s incredibly ambitious. ... He doesn’t care necessarily about everyone’s opinions. He just wants to be good.”
There were plenty of other teams interested. The Texas Rangers were seen as the other strongest contender to sign him, according to one person with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly.
Also, at the time Jang announced his intentions, the Dodgers lacked the kind of international bonus pool money to seriously make a run at signing him, forcing the front office to quickly seek a trade.
A deal quietly came together Aug. 4 when the Dodgers flipped prospects Aldrin Batista and Maximo Martinez to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for international slot money. A week later, Jang’s signing was official — a turn of events even the pitcher acknowledged came as a bit of a surprise.
“I knew they were interested in me,” he said at a news conference. “But I didn’t think I’d end up signing with this team.”
Before coming to the U.S., Jang played with the South Korea national team in last year’s Asian Games. By helping the country win a gold medal, he earned an exemption from its mandatory military service obligations, clearing the way for him to play full-time in America this year.
According to Dodgers vice president of player development Will Rhymes, Jang probably will start this season in the rookie-level Arizona Complex league. Ranked as the club’s 18th-best prospect by MLB Pipeline, he is still at least two to three years away from the big leagues, most observers believe.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said designated hitter Shohei Ohtani will begin a throwing program once the club returns from its trans-Pacific trek.
Jang has worked closely with Hill and the rest of the Dodgers’ player development staff this spring on refining his expansive repertoire of pitches — which includes a sinker, changeup, curveball and slider in addition to his tantalizing, high-velocity four-seamer.
“I mean, what doesn’t he throw?” Hill joked about Jang’s arsenal. “The actual command and ability to manipulate the baseball, it’s pretty advanced for his age.”
When Gomes first met Jang at last month’s DodgerFest, he was struck by how Jang sized up to Bobby Miller, the 6-foot-5 right-hander coming off a promising rookie season.
“When Bobby doesn’t make you look small, you’re like, ‘OK, this dude is put together,’” Gomes said. “With that body and his fastball quality right now, he certainly [projects as a] major league starting pitcher.”
Once upon a time, the Dodgers thought something similar about a high-school-aged Ohtani.
In Jang, they see the chance to develop another future star from the other side of the world.
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