One of the Minnesota Twins’ most significant free-agent additions from last offseason may have played his last game with the franchise. Minnesota surprised the baseball world Friday, designating 30-year-old Korean first baseman Byung-ho Park for assignment just one year after he signed a four-year, $12 million contract.
The move comes as a shock considering the club’s commitment to Park. While $12 million isn’t much in today’s game, Park was one of three Twins signed through the 2019 season. Phil Hughes and recently-signed catcher Jason Castro were the only two players under contract as long as Park. That doesn’t include arbitration-eligible players, however.
Still, after the Twins signed Park last season, it seemed as though he would figure in to their long-term plans. Once he got on the field, things changed quickly. Park struggled to make contact with major-league pitching, striking out in 32.8 percent of his plate appearances. While he was able to show off his power early, hitting six home runs in April, Park quickly fell off. He was demoted to Triple-A in July and did not return to the majors. Park hit .191/.275/.409 over 244 plate appearances in the majors.
Despite those issues, there’s some evidence the Twins may have cut bait too early. Park had season-ending wrist surgery in August, and the issue impacted him throughout most of the year. He also made hard contact when he was able to put the bat on the ball and produced an above-average exit velocity on fly balls and line drives, according to Statcast. That data is still new, so it should be taken with a grain of salt, but it at least provides some evidence he wasn’t a complete disaster.
The biggest reason to stay the course with Park may be his limited sample. The Twins cut bait after just 244 plate appearances. That’s nothing. Even the best players can turn in a poor slash line over 244 plate appearances. Add in the fact that Park was trying to adjust to a new league after spending all of his career in Korea, and suddenly it’s not a surprise that he had trouble adjusting.
With that said, the Twins have more evidence on whether Park can be a successful major-leaguer than any other club. It’s possible they saw enough in his limited performance to know he would never hack it in the majors. Maybe other factors played a role. Perhaps the Twins felt Park would never fully adjust to baseball in the United States.
While the Twins seem to have given up on Park, there’s still a chance he’ll remain in the organization. Teams have 10 days to claim Park on waivers. In doing so, they would have to agree to take on the remainder of his contract. Over the next three seasons, he’ll make roughly $9 million. He also has a $6.5 million option for 2020. If he’s not claimed, Park will remain with the Twins in the minors.
That’s not a huge monetary commitment, and it’s possible a team looking for help at first or DH could give Park a chance to prove last season was a fluke. While last year’s numbers weren’t encouraging, it’s too soon to completely write Park off just yet.
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