Hall of Famer Adrian Beltre to visit Korean minor league team for clinic
This photo shows former Major League Baseball All-Star Adrian Beltre during the National Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cooperstown, N.Y., U.S., July 21, 2024. UPI-Yonhap
Former Major League Baseball (MLB) All-Star and Hall of Famer Adrian Beltre and ex-World Series MVP Cole Hamels will visit Korea this month for a clinic with a minor league team, the club's officials said Wednesday.
The SSG Landers of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) said Beltre and Hamels will be the featured guests for a two-day "MLB Legend Mentoring Day" for the Landers' team in the Futures League, the KBO's minor circuit, on June 11 and 12.
Both Beltre and Hamels were teammates with Choo Shin-soo, former Landers player and now an adviser to the team's owner, with the Texas Rangers.
Choo, who is also in charge of player development for the Landers, played for the Rangers from 2014 to 2020. Beltre was there from 2011 to 2018, while Hamels pitched for them from 2015 to 2018.
According to the Landers, Beltre and Hamels will give a talk and answer questions from the minor leaguers, before taking the field for one-on-one instructions with individual players. The events will take place at the Landers' minor league facilities on the western border island of Ganghwa.
The two ex-big leaguers will also have a chance to talk with the Landers' coaches and front office staff about player development, the Landers added.
The Landers insisted they didn't invite Beltre and Hamels just for the show and their trip is "a key part of the manual for our player development system."
"Giving our Futures League players a chance to learn from the best in the business should strengthen our club for the mid to long term," the Landers said.
Choo said he had been trying to arrange this trip for his two former teammates since the beginning of the year and thanked them for accepting his invitation.
"June and July could be the toughest parts of the season for Futures League players, because they may lose some of their drive as they try to earn call-ups to the KBO," Choo said. "I wanted to give them some fresh inspiration and motivation. I know it will only be a short meeting but I am confident there will be a lot of productive discussions that can help our players on the field."
Beltre played for 21 years, the final eight of them with the Rangers. The four-time All-Star put up 477 home runs with 1,707 RBIs and a .286 batting average in 2,933 career games, while also winning five Gold Gloves and two Platinum Gloves as one of the top defensive third basemen of his generation.
Beltre was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2024.
Hamels won the World Series MVP award in 2008 for the Philadelphia Phillies and pitched in back-to-back American League Division Series for the Rangers in 2015 and 2016. The left-hander had a career record of 163-122 with a 3.43 ERA, and made four All-Star teams.