KBO clubs complete foreign player signings for new season

Completed chart of KBO foreign players / Courtesy of sports force Instagram

All 10 clubs in the top Korean baseball league have filled their spots for foreign players for the 2026 season, with a little over half of them coming in with prior experience here.

The SSG Landers and the Doosan Bears became the last two Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) clubs to complete their foreign player signings Monday, with every team having done so with two pitchers and one position player.

The Landers re-signed half-Korean starting pitcher Mitch White for $1.2 million and outfielder Guillermo Heredia for $1.3 million.

White, an American native with a Korean mother, went 11-4 with a 2.87 ERA in 24 starts in 2025, his first KBO season. He will make $800,000 in salary and took a signing bonus of $300,000. He can make an additional $100,000 in incentives.

Heredia will be back for his fourth consecutive season with the Landers. In his injury-plagued 2025 season, the Cuban outfielder batted .339 with 13 homers and 54 RBIs in 96 games. Despite his limited time on the field, Heredia still earned his third straight KBO Fielding Award, becoming the first player to win the top defensive prize every year since its introduction in 2023.

SSG Landers pitcher Mitch White, left, and outfielder Guillermo Heredia, who each signed a new contract for the 2026 Korea Baseball Organization season, Monday. Courtesy of SSG Landers

Also on Monday, the Bears signed a new face in outfielder Daz Cameron, who agreed to a one-year deal worth $1 million.

The son of three-time Gold Glove winner Mike Cameron, Daz has 160 major league games to his credit, with a career .200 batting average, along with 11 homers, 42 RBIs and 15 steals.

In 2025, the junior Cameron played 21 games for the Milwaukee Brewers and 65 games in Triple-A for the Brewers and the Baltimore Orioles. In the minors last year, Cameron batted .282 with 18 homers, 57 RBIs and 18 steals.

White and Heredia are among 14 foreign players who were brought back from a season ago. Two players will return to the KBO after some time away — Bears pitcher Chris Flexen, who previously played here in 2020, and Hanwha Eagles outfielder Yonathan Perlaza, who first played for the team in 2024.

New Doosan Bears outfielder Daz Cameron poses with his contract with the Korea Baseball Organization club, Monday. Courtesy of Doosan Bears

The reigning Korean Series champions LG Twins were the only team to retain all three foreign players from the 2025 season, as they re-signed pitchers Yonny Chirinos and Anders Tolhurst, and first baseman Austin Dean.

The KT Wiz were at the other end of the spectrum, replacing all three foreign players after missing the postseason for the first time since 2019.

Right-handers Matt Sauer and Caleb Boushley will now man the starting rotation, while another new face, Sam Hilliard, will patrol the outfield.

The Eagles, who fell to the Twins in the Korean Series, lost their top two starters from the 2025 season, with Cody Ponce signing with the Toronto Blue Jays and Ryan Weiss joining the Houston Astros. The Eagles acquired Wilkel Hernandez and Owen White as their new starters.

New Kia Tigers player Jarryd Dale signs his contract with the Korea Baseball Organization club, Dec. 24. Courtesy of KIA Tigers

The Kia Tigers joined the Twins as the only two teams to bring back both foreign starting pitchers from 2025, with James Naile and Adam Oller returning. Naile, who signed for $2 million, will be the highest-paid foreign player in 2026.

For the new season, the KBO introduced the Asian quota system, with one roster spot for each team to be filled by Asian or Australian players who spent the previous year in an Asian league.

Those 10 quota spots were filled by Christmas Eve — with seven Japanese players, two Australian players and one Taiwanese player.

While the nine other teams signed pitchers, the Tigers filled their Asian quota with a position player — Australian infielder Jarryd Dale.