Patrick Wisdom (33), a right-handed slugger who hit 20 home runs for the third consecutive year in the Major League, has started counting down to join the KIA Tigers, the winner of the KBO League in the 2024 season. With the main position likely to be the first baseman, many fans are paying attention to the changes Wisdom will bring.
“Wizdom is currently undergoing medical examination. Unless something special happens, I think I will be signing soon,” a Kia team official told Star News on the phone on Wednesday.
The report confirmed simultaneous reports in the U.S. Major U.S. media, including MLB Trade Rumors, said on the 15th that Wizdom has signed a contract with KIA in the 토토사이트 KBO League. The Mexican League’s original team, Narangheros de Emorsillo, also said on the club’s website that Wizdom signed a contract with a Korean professional baseball team and excluded it from the winter league list under the agreement of both sides.
Wisdom is an attractive player with explosive slugging capability. He was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals 52 times in the first round of the 2012 MLB Rookie Draft, and made his big league debut in 2018. Since then, he has played for the Texas Rangers and the Chicago Cubs, where he has a batting average of 0.209 (274 hits in 1311 at-bats), 88 homers, 207 RBIs and 23 steals in 455 games in the Major League, and an on-base percentage of 0.459 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) of 0.750 (on-base percentage or on-base percentage or on-base percentage or on-base percentage or on-base percentage or on-base percentage or on-base percentage or on-base percentage or on-base percentage or on-base percentage or on-base percentage or on-base percentage or on-base percentage or on-base percentage or on-base percentage or on-base percentage or on-base percentage or on-base percentage or on-base percentage or on-base percentage or on-base percentage or on-base percent.
It is pointed out that his team’s overall strikeout rate in the big leagues stands at 36.7 percent (average of 22.7 percent in the major leagues). However, his slugging ability was considered certain enough to exceed 0.5 percent for two of the three full-time seasons, which is a big attraction to Kia that needed a home run.
Wisdom’s main position is as a third baseman. He played 2,119 ⅔ innings in 277 games, the most in third base, and played 280 innings as a first baseman, including 464 ⅔ in 83 games and seven center field innings in the outfield. He is most likely to play as a first baseman in KIA. KBO MVP Kim Do-young (21) was positioned at third base. Naturally, Lee Woo-sung (30), the existing first baseman, is highly likely to return to his main position as an outfielder.
KIA’s first base has rarely found its owner since Kim Joo-chan’s retirement in 2019. Starting with Hwang Dae-in (28), many players, including Byun Woo-hyuk (24) and Seo Geon-chang (35), tried to fill the gap, but none of them settled down. Eventually, Lee Woo-sung, who had played only outfield throughout his professional career, attempted to switch to the first base from the 2023 wrap-up camp.
However, Lee’s performance thus dampened Lee’s offense capability, which had awakened his potential for the first time in a long time. In his 11th year as a pro player, Lee had a batting average of 0.301 (107 hits in 355 at-bats), eight homers, 58 RBIs, 39 runs and eight steals in 126 games last year, and displayed an on-base-plus-slugging ratio of 0.417 OPS of 0.780. In the first half, he showed outstanding performance, replacing even Na Sung-bum (35), drawing keen attention as a player with great expectations.
This year, which was expected to show better performance, was a bit disappointing both in ball and in number. During 112 games during the regular season, the team had a batting average of 0.288 (for 115 hits in 399 at-bats), nine homers, 54 RBIs, 56 runs and seven steals, and remained flat with a 0.361 slugging percentage of 0.401 OPS of 0.762. Although the season got better as time went by in the defense of the first base, it failed to give any trust until the end. Kia continued to agonize over whether to use Lee Woo-sung, Byun Woo-hyuk, and Seo Geon-chang alternately at first base throughout the Korean Series, and all three of them ended up combining one hit and two RBIs from 17 times at bat, leaving the team a hole.
However, if he returns to the outfield, which Lee was used to, he is expected to show better performance in offense as well. With Wisdom’s recruitment, Socrates Brito (32), an existing outfielder, will leave, leaving one spot vacant. Left fielder Lee Woo-sung, center fielder Choi Won-joon, and right fielder Na Sung-bum are depicted. The structure is that Lee Chang-jin will be the corner outfield, and Park Jung-woo and Kim Ho-ryeong will be the backup players to center field. When Na Sung-bum is appointed as the designated hitter, right fielder Lee Woo-sung can also be seen.
Once Wisdom, who has strong slugging capability, is positioned in the clean-up trio, Lee can hit with less pressure from No. 6 to No. 7. Kia’s strategy is to maximize its firepower while relieving existing players of long-range shots and burdens on offense. This year, Kia boasted an overwhelming firepower with a team OPS of 0.828, surpassing the league average of 0.772, but the number of home runs was not even. After Kim Do-young (38 home runs), Socrates Brito (26 home runs), Choi Hyung-woo (22 home runs), and Na Sung-bum (21 home runs), the gap was wide between Lee Woo-sung, Kim Sun-bin and Choi Won-jun with nine home runs.
In addition, Choi Hyung-woo and Na Sung-bum are more likely to get hurt as the years go by, and Kim Do-young has a lot of things to do on the other side, even if it’s not a home run. KIA definitely needed a home run hitter, which led to the decision to replace Socrates, who hit 26 home runs this year. “I didn’t decide to replace Socrates because I felt sorry for him. Socrates was a really good ball, fielder, and week for the past three years, and I’m grateful for him,” an official of the KIA team said. “Rather than that, I tried to approach Socrates from a different point from his strengths. In terms of upgrading his power, it was considered that he needed a more certain long-range power, especially a home run.”
