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| Yoon Suk-min |
It's been an interesting few weeks for newly-signed Baltimore Orioles pitcher Yoon Suk-min, who recently joined Ryu Hyun-jin and Choo Shin-soo in Major League Baseball's fraternity of Korean players.
Hopefully, things will settle down for Yoon now that he's passed a physical with the Orioles and joined the team in spring training in Sarasota, Fla., according to multiple reports.
Rumors had swirled around the former Korean Baseball Organization MVP, who was linked to a handful of teams including the Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers. Yoon added to the speculation with a "selfie" he took in an Orioles hat, which he tweeted before the physical.
While such noise may subside, speculation regarding the 27-year old's role ― as well as about his ceiling in the MLB ― may just be starting.
For the moment it appears to be a win-win deal. The Orioles get a pitcher who has shown moments of dominance in the KBO for a team-friendly rate of some $5.575 million over three years. Yoon gets his big league shot and could earn up to $13 million through performance-based incentives.
Some, such as former Lotte Giants pitcher Ryan Sadowski believe Yoon is best suited as a "one inning reliever," per a tweet from Fox Sports writer Jon Morosi.
That's a role the Korean has some experience with. After joining the KBO in 2005, he pitched both as a starter and out of the bullpen before permanently joining the rotation in 2009. Last year, he pitched in relief for a period while coming back from a shoulder injury.
But it's as a starter that Yoon has had the most success, particularly his breakout season in 2011 when he posted 17 wins and 178 strikeouts with a 2.45 ERA.
Another question is how Yoon's pitching style will fare in the American League East, known for having "pitcher-friendly" stadiums.
According to Mike Rosenbaum, a prospects writer for sports site Bleacher Report, three stadium's in the division -- the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Yankee Stadium in New York and Camden Yards in Baltimore -- ranked in the MLB's top 10 for home-run rate and overall scoring. Teams in the division also hit well against righties.
On the other hand, Yoon may be something of an enigma to opposing batters, at least at first. Yoon has a knack for missing bats and inducing groundballs. His strongest pitch is said to be his slider, and he keeps batters off balance with his changeup, which accompanies a fastball that, in the past, has reached into the high-140 to low-150 kilometer-per-hour range.
Dan Kurtz, operator of baseball website MyKBO.net, said Yoon's rookie campaign hinged mainly on health.
If he "can regain his 2011 MVP form, he will have some success in the majors. But if he's not fully recovered and has another average year like last season, it may be a tough rookie year for him which could also affect him mentally and make for a rocky time in Baltimore."
Yoo posted a KBO career record of 73-59 with 44 saves and a 3.19 ERA. He has struck out 949 batters and walked 345 in 1,129 innings.
