LG Twins infielder Austin Dean (31) has reserved the best foreign fielder in the club’s history.
On Friday, LG announced the renewal of contracts with Austin and pitcher Elijah Hernandez. Austin signed a total of 1.7 million dollars (2.37 billion won). The contract includes a down payment of 300,000 dollars, an annual salary of 1.2 million dollars, and 200,000 dollars in incentives.
Austin became the second LG foreign fielder to play for three seasons.
Austin, who played for a total of $700,000 (980 million won) in 2023 and $1.3 million (1.82 billion won) this year, recorded a big increase.
Unlike foreign pitchers, LG has failed to recruit batters. There have been few foreign hitters who have shown good performance over the past few years. Roberto Petazini (2008-09) and Luis Jimenez (2015-17) have succeeded in recruiting foreign hitters.
Both Petazini and Jimenez came to Korea as substitutes. Petazini, who was hired as a substitute for pitcher Jamie Brown in May 2008, had a batting average of 0.338 with 333 home runs and 135 RBIs in 183 games over the past two years while wearing the LG Twins uniform.
LG recruited Lee Taek-geun as a free agent (FA) after the end of the 2009 season and did not renew the contract due to the wide gap in ransom with Petazini.
Jimenez stepped on the Korean soil as a substitute for Jack Hanna Han in 2015 and was substituted out in July 2017 due to injury. The only season he played full time was in 2016. His overall record in the KBO league is 0.303, 44 homers and 178 RBIs in 256 games over three seasons.
Austin surpassed the performances of the two players, who remained nostalgic for foreign hitters. It broke LG’s nightmare of foreign hitters.
Austin had a batting average of 0.313 with 23 home runs and 95 RBIs in 139 games in 2023. As a LG player, he has won the Golden Glove Award for the first time in 29 years since Seo Yong-bin in 1994. This season, he had a batting average of 0.319 with 32 home runs and 132 RBIs in 140 games. He became the first LG player to rank No. 1 in RBIs (132). He is also the first LG player to surpass 30 to 100 RBIs in a batting average of 132. He is aiming to win the Golden Glove Award for the second consecutive year. His overall record in the KBO league is 0.316 with 55 home runs and 227 RBIs. “I am very proud to have given LG its first title as RBI king,” Austin said. “I was able to love baseball once again thanks to the constant love and support from fans over the past two years.” 바카라사이트
Austin wants to remain LG’s legendary foreign hitter. LG said goodbye to Casey Kelly, who accompanied him for six seasons, in July, when Austin told this newspaper, “I want to be remembered as a player like Kelly. I will inherit his legacy.”
Immediately after renewing his contract, he said, “I am happy and excited to play as a LG Twins player again in the 2025 season. I will prepare well so that I can give good results to fans next season as well. Thank you again for your support and support to me and my family.”
“Both Austin and Hernandez have fully played their roles in pitching and hitting in the 2024 season. They have completely adapted to the KBO league and are looking forward to seeing good performance in the next season as well. We also expect that the players with outstanding personality including teamwork and skills will have a positive impact on the team’s mood,” LG said.
