The Next Great Import from Korea?

Hyun Jin Ryu’s most significant achievement might be making Korean Baseball Organization respectable in the eyes of Major League Baseball, like Hideo Nomo to Japan, when all is said and done. So who is going to be Korean’s Shigetoshi Hasegawa? My best guess is Suk Min Yoon.

Suk Min Yoon is arguably the most highly regarded right-handed pitcher in Korea today. He achieved pitcher’s triple crown in 2011 with 17 wins, a 2.45 ERA and 178 strikeouts in 172- 1/3 innings. Yoon will be eligible for free agency this off-season. If signed, he will be more likely to become the second player to make a direct jump from KBO to the majors. Yoon pitches to both sides of the of plate with a 88-92mph fastball that touches 96. Below is Yoon’s average fastball velocity from 2009 to 2012:
 

2009	144.46km/h
2010	143.53km/h
2011	145.4km/h
2012	144.4km/h

Fastball

Yoon has two variations of slider, one at 83-86 and another at 87-89, and both have tight rotation and late bite. Occasionally Yoon throws a changeup with deceptive arm speed and nice fade, but he still needs to improve the pitch-to-pitch consistency with his changeup. He also flips in a slow curveball to give hitters a different look.

Slider

Slider

Change-up

Curve

 

It seems like Yoon has improved his command last two years in Korea, but is it good enough to carry over to the majors?

Yoon’s BB/9 from 2005-2012:

Year	BB/9
2005	3.43
2006	2.57
2007	3.28
2008	2.44
2009	3.31
2010	3.21
2011	2.30
2012	1.94

Yoon doesn't miss enough bats to profile as a front-line starter, but with three solid pitches, he is talented enough to earn a spot in rotation on many teams.