On Sunday morning, the Texas Rangers officially announced the signing of Seong-Jun Kim, aka “The Korean Ohtani”.

Kim is an 18-year-old 6’2, 185-pound shortstop/right-handed pitcher who is scheduled to graduate from Gwangju Jeil High School next January. In 2024, Kim was named the Korean high school amateur player of the year, and this season was named the First Half Weekend League MVP.

The Rangers were able to give Kim $1.2 million through the international signing process by partially reallocating funds intended for Dodgers starter Roki Sasaki.

“We’re so excited about Seong-Jun Kim, a world-class talent and also a world-class person,” said Rangers senior director of international scouting and development Hamilton Wise.

“We’ve been so impressed with him defensively at shortstop and in the batter’s box, but also on the pitcher’s mound. We have full intent as an organization to develop him as a two-way player.

Traditionally, Korean players will opt for the KBO Draft before being posted by their teams and heading to the big leagues.

However, Kim has his sights set on MLB before even graduating from high school. Kim said that he chose the Rangers over KBO because it will allow him to get to the bigs faster and said very specifically that his goal is to be an MLB player by 2030.

As things currently stand, Kim’s pitching abilities seem slightly above his abilities at the plate. On the mound, Kim features a fastball that sits comfortably in the 90s with off-speed stuff that has advanced-level movement.

It’s safe to say Kim won’t be impacting the Rangers at the big league level just yet. He won’t join the organization until he graduates from high school in 2026, and even then, he will still have to go through the Rangers minor league system.

With several months until Kim joins the orginization, the Rangers are focused on making his impending transition a smooth one.

“The food’s different, the language is different, the people and coaching styles are different,” Wise said.

“We have to have resources around him to put him in a position of success. We’re using this next year to get our ducks in a row, so to speak, and make sure that he can hit the ground running.”

However, despite this being a long-term project, the Rangers not only fully believe that Kim can be a successful Major League player, but a successful two-way player.
“We have a ton of background on who he is as a person. He is a really impressive young man. So we’re very excited about that piece. It’s a big challenge, but if he conquers the transition, we have no doubt the talent will play out.”