They are still living together. I applied for an FA, but I have nowhere to go. What’s worse is news that Kia Tigers from the original team will recruit an “inner” as a new foreign hitter. Will Seo Geon-chang (35) become an “ineligible player” as he entered the free agent market after four moves.
The U.S. media ‘CBS Sports’ reported that “Patrick Wisdom (33) has signed with KIA in the KBO League.” The media said, “The Chicago Cubs released Wisdom as a non-tender, who recorded eight home runs, 23 RBIs and five steals, a batting average/on base rate/base percentage of 0.171/0.237/0.392 in 75 games. Wisdom has recorded more than 20 home runs in the past three consecutive seasons, and he will head abroad to bat again.”
Wizdham, a right-handed infielder with a stout physique of 188 centimeters tall and weighing 100 kilograms, was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals with the 52nd overall pick in the 2012 MLB Rookie Draft. Having achieved his big league debut dream with the St. Louis in 2018, he had full-fledged potential with the Cubs after playing for the Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners.
Starting with 28 homers in 2021, Wisdom hit 20 or more homers for three consecutive seasons, including 25 homers in 2022 and 23 homers in 2023, showing off his outstanding performance. However, this year, after a 75-game batting average of 0.171 with eight homers, 23 RBIs and an OPS of 0.629, Wisdom suffered a bitter taste as he released the game from the Cubs. The overall Major League record is a batting average of 0.209 with 88 homers and 207 RBIs and an OPS of 0.750.
If Kia recruits Wizdom as a new foreign hitter, its future will inevitably be affected. Unlike outfielder Socrates Brito, Wizdom’s position is an “outfielder.”
Wisdom played the most games in the U.S. as a third baseman. He played 277 games (2,119 innings) in the Major League and 714 games (6,093 innings) in the Minor League. His second most experienced position was as a first baseman, who played 83 games (464 ⅔ innings) in the Major League and 72 games (589 ⅔ innings) in the Minor League. Besides, he played in various defensive positions including left field, right field, center field, second baseman and shortstop, but in fact, he can be seen as a third baseman and a first baseman.
The hot corner of Kia is occupied by a key third baseman named “MVP” Kim Do-young. If Wisdom joins Kia, it is highly likely that he will assume the first baseman position. This year, Kia has played 87 games (670 ⅓ innings), 53 games (314 innings) by Byun Woo-hyuk, and 51 games (276 ⅔ innings) by Seo Geon-chang.
Lee Woo-sung, who was formerly a first baseman, will move to a corner outfielder, while Byun will be able to secure a chance to play as a backup at first and third bases similar to this season. However, Seo’s role, which was the third option at first base, is ambiguous. It is highly likely that Yoon will be the backup at second base. In addition, Kia has abundant backup fielder resources, both inside and outside the country.
Before applying for the first free agent, Seo had a challenging career in baseball. After graduating from Gwangju Jeil High School and joining the LG Twins as a rookie player (currently Yook Sung), Seo was released after leaving the record of one out (one strikeout) in just one game in the first team in 2009. After finishing his mandatory military service, he wore the Nexen Heroes uniform in 2012 through tryouts.
During the Nexen Heroes, Seo was the best second baseman in the league. Seo won the Rookie of the Year award with a batting average of 0.266, one homer, 40 RBIs, and 39 steals and an OPS of 0.709 in 127 games in 2012, and became the MVP based on his batting average of 0.3707 with 67 RBIs and 48 steals and an OPS of 0.985 in 128 games in 2014, as well as a new record of 201 hits in a single season in the KBO League. 먹튀검증
Since then, Seo Geon-chang, who had a batting average of .300 from 2016 to 2019, has gone downhill little by little. His batting average in the .300 range collapsed in 2020 (0.277) and he fell into a slump with a batting average of .259 in the first half of 2021, ahead of his first FA. He wore the LG uniform again through a one-on-one trade (↔ Jeong Chan-heon), but there was no rebound, and in the end, Seo Geon-chang, who had a batting average of .253 with six home runs, 52 RBIs and an OPS of 0.693, chose to re-enter the FA in 144 games that year.
However, Seo’s bat did not recover even in 2022 (batting average 0.224) and 2023 (0.200). After delaying his application for free agency twice due to poor performance, he asked LG to release him at the end of the 2023 season and left the team.
Seo made a triumphant comeback this season by hitting 0.310 (63 hits in 203 at-bats) with one homer, 26 RBIs and an OPS of 0.820 in 94 games. Notably, he showed off his strong batting sense by posting a batting average of 0.565 (13 hits in 23 at-bats) and six RBIs in 13 games in September, contributing to his team’s early confirmation of No. 1 ranking. Seo, who enjoyed his first career win and had the best season, exercised his status as an FA after four runs.
The response is rather cold compared to the long wait. The FA grade is C level and the annual salary is 50 million won, which does not pose a heavy burden on recruiting Seo. However, at the young age of 36 in 2025, the position is also limited to first and second basemen. Even so, it cannot be said that the team possesses stable defense capability. Although the team has regained the precision of hitting, it is difficult to expect long-range hitting power and lacks the mobility of the past, which makes it difficult to attract attention from teams that want to beef up their capabilities by recruiting the FA.
Seo Geon-chang exercised his FA right, which may only be once in his life, with difficulty, but he was in a difficult situation where he could not do this or that. If it is difficult to transfer to another team, he has to choose to stay in the end, but if KIA recruits a foreign hitter as an infielder, there is no room for Seo to squeeze in. Attention is focusing on whether Seo will become an FA Mia or whether he will be able to continue his performance in the 2025 season after signing an FA contract.
