Korean Baseball Association Kiwoom Heroes have agreed to infielder Song ChengwenJeeho Yoo of Yonhap News Agency reports. The KBO’s release window is 30 days (as opposed to the 45-day period for players from Japan’s NPB). MLB teams will formally negotiate with Song on Saturday morning, Yoo added, and Song has hired ISE Baseball to represent him. He needs to sign by 5:00 pm ET on December 21st or remain with the Heroes.
Song, 29, is a left-handed hitter who has played all nine seasons of his career with the club. His OPS was below .700 each year from 2021-23, but has taken a leap over the past two years. Song hit .340/.409/.518 last year and is equally impressive in ’25. He hit a career-best 26 home runs in 646 games, hitting .315/.387/.530.
Among 30 KBO hitters with more than 500 at-bats, Song ranked sixth in average and on-base percentage and third in slugging. He also finished third in home runs (albeit far behind the former MLB first baseman) Lewin Diaz League-best 50 long balls). Song’s walk rate was 10.5% and his strikeout rate was 14.9%. Strikeout rate is excellent in major league pitching, but only slightly better than average in South Korea, where the velocity is lower and batters hit the ball much more often.
Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs gave Song a FV grade of 45, which is on par with a mid-level prospect on a typical organization’s top-30 list. Longenhagen figures he has great power on the pull and a strong arm at third base, where he spent most of his KBO career. He’s a good athlete who stole 25 bases this year and has a 46-48 attempted base the past two seasons.
The biggest question is his pure hitting ability. Longenhagen wrote that Song showed a bit of a tendency to chase pitches outside the strike zone and had an uphill swing path that left him vulnerable to pitches in the zone, especially in the outside half. Readers are encouraged to check out FanGraphs’ full scouting report for more details. The Athletic’s Will Sammon and Cody Stavenhagen wrote earlier this month that evaluators they’ve spoken to view Song as more of a utility player than an average player.
Song has some defensive flexibility, but his inability to play shortstop limits his value as a utility player. Primarily a corner infielder, he also logged nearly 1,300 innings at second base. The Angels are in need of a third baseman and are looking for a left-handed bat to balance out a right-handed lineup. The Astros also want to bring in a left-handed infielder, though they’ll need to play Song regularly at second base unless they trade one of those players Isaac Paredes or Christian Walker. The A’s are in the second and third base markets, and the Mariners could also depend on whether they re-sign their own free agents. White Sox, Pirates, Marlins, Rangers, Diamondbacks, Tigers and Royals ( Michael Garcia Can play second baseman) can become a third baseman.
In addition to Song’s guarantee, the signing team will also need to pay a posting fee to the Heroes. This is proportional to the contract value: 20% for the first $25MM, 17.5% for the next $25MM, and 15% thereafter. It would be surprising if the song topped $25MM, so the most likely outcome is that the distribution fee will be 20% of the deposit.
Song is the only KBO player to be watched this offseason. first baseman Jiang Baihao He was reportedly considering a move to Major League Baseball, but this week he signed a four-year contract with the KBO’s Hanwha Hawks. although Cody Ponce After a dominant KBO season, he is expected to return to MLB as a free agent rather than through the release system. Three much higher-profile NPB players have made the jump through the release system: Imai Tatsuya, Munataka Murakami and Kazuma Okamoto. Japanese right-hander Takahashi Yukina Also released, but the contract amount is much lower than the other three.
