Shim Jun-seok (19, Deoksu High School), who received attention from major league clubs as a right-handed fastball pitcher, signs a contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Shim Jun-seok declared a major league challenge without submitting an application for participation in the 2023 KBO Rookie Draft held in September of last year.

MLB.com announced on the 16th (Korean time), “Pittsburgh has agreed to sign Korean pitcher Shim Jun-seok and Dominican Republic outfielder Raymond Mora.” An official announcement from the club has yet to be made.

Currently, Ji-man Choi and Bae Ji-hwan belong to Pittsburgh, and it is also well known as the club where Jung-ho Kang and Chan-ho Park played in the past.

On January 15, local time in the United States, Major League Baseball renews the ‘download limit for international amateur players under the age of 25’.

Pittsburgh can spend $5,825,500 (about 7.23 billion won) on signing international amateur players from this day to December 15th. 스포츠토토

Major league clubs signed international amateur prospects simultaneously on January 15th.

Shim Jun-seok has been known as a promising player who can challenge the major leagues since his freshman year thanks to his fast ball with a maximum speed of 157 km/h and a curve with a large drop. He was recently ranked 10th in the international prospect rankings.

MLB.com said, “Shim Joon-seok consistently throws a fast ball with a maximum speed of 100 miles per hour and an average of 94 to 96 miles. It features a 12-6 curve and showed good control over all pitches. In addition, he has a large physique with clean arm movements and He was praised for his athletic ability.”

He added, “Sim Jun-seok’s slider and change-up are also worth noting in that they can develop into plus pitches in the future. Because of his calmness, personality, and fastball, he has been compared to the young Park Chan-ho since his early teens.”

The size of Shim Jun-seok’s contract has not been specifically disclosed.

The $2.25 million that Kim Byung-Hyeon received when he signed for the Arizona Diamondbacks is the largest contract payment among Korean players. Ryu Je-guk received $1.6 million and Choo Shin-soo received $1.37 million.

Among Korean prospects who recently chose to go to the US, Park Hyo-joon received 1.16 million dollars, Kwon Kwang-min received 1.2 million dollars, and Bae Ji-hwan received 1.25 million dollars.