The Hanwha Eagles has caught Esteban Floral (27), a former promising player of the New York Yankees, as a new foreign hitter. Despite the interest of Japanese teams, Hanwha successfully acquired Floral by reading his mind and persuading him.
Hanwha officially announced its contract with right-handed left-handed outfielder Floral as a new foreign hitter on the 13th. It completed the contract for up to $850,000 including a down payment of $50,000 and an annual salary of $700,000 and incentives of $100,000. Hanwha, which was troubled because there was no clear center fielder, put out the urgent fire by recruiting Floral with a clear defense and base running.
The total amount of $850,000 is not a very large amount considering the competition was made with the interest of Japanese clubs. Japan was advantageous in terms of financial conditions, but Hanwha persuaded Floral by appealing the importance of guaranteeing opportunities. He was aware of the inside of Floral, who had a lot of regrets about Major League Baseball.
Floral is a former top prospect in the “famous” Yankees. A native of Haiti, he signed an international amateur contract with the Yankees in March 2015 and went through a training process in the Minor League to grow into a top prospect. He swept the top spot in the rankings of promising players in major media outlets such as MLB Pipeline, Baseball America and the FanGraphs in 2019. With his fast feet, strong shoulders and power, he is expected to be a hot hitter who can perform 30-30 degrees Celsius in the future.
However, the Major League had no chance of success. Since debuting in 2020, he has played 245 games with a batting average of 192, or 41 hits in 213 times at bat, four homers, 22 RBIs, 23 runs scored, 26 walks, 82 strikeouts, and eight steals. He has not performed as well as expected with a .329 OPS.620 slugging percentage. He has good defense and base running, but clearly showed weakness in contact in batting. He was traded to the Cleveland Guardians this year, but only posted a batting average of 173, or 17 hits in 36 games (17 hits in 98 times at bat), three homers, 11 RBIs, 11 walks, 41 strikeouts, and two steals in OPS.631.
After completing the season with Triple-A under Cleveland after being assigned as a transfer in late May, Floral was released as an FA. He was expected to continue his challenge again in the U.S., but Hanwha approached him since a year ago. Despite competition with Japanese teams, he has displayed advantages and advantages that can be gained when playing in Korea. Japan, which can have unlimited number of foreign players, does not wait for long when the team is in a slump. On the other hand, Korea, which is limited to three players, is guaranteed ample opportunity to play. Many players have returned to the Major League based on their performance in the KBO League.
For Floral, who is still 27 years old, it was important for him to perform well in Asia, and he considered the environment and characteristics of the league rather than money 먹튀검증. It was more advantageous to play in Korea, where he has strong pitching capabilities, than in Japan, where he has strong pitching capabilities. “If I do well in Korea, I can go back to the Major League with good treatment,” Floral told Hanwha officials at the winter meeting held in Dallas, Texas. He made up his mind to persuade them to join us. Hanwha also expects that Floral’s clear sense of purpose will help him adapt to the league.
Floral is a player who possesses the most outfield defense, flagship and slugging capability that Hanwha needs the most. With a sprint speed of 28.7 feet per second (8.7 meters), he ranked in the top 15 percent of the Major League this year, and his main position is center field with excellent throwing strength. The new Daejeon ballpark, which will open next year, needed center field players to efficiently cover wide range due to low left-center fence height due to pentagonal asymmetry in Korea for the first time. He also has good performance as he has recorded more than 20 steals for the past three consecutive years in Triple-A, including 39 in 2022. He is a type of player who sprints at every moment and runs hard, so Kim Kyung-moon will like it.
The key is hitting. He hit 28 home runs in Triple-A last year, but his accuracy is low and he struck out a lot. At Triple-A, he had a batting average of 257 (hitting 340 at bats, 1,321) in 344 games for four seasons, 65 home runs, 196 RBIs, 248 runs, 192 walks, 468 strikeouts, and 99 steals. He had a good .352 OPS.825 slugging percentage, but this year he had a batting average of 213 (42 hits in 197 at bats), nine home runs, 30 RBIs, 34 runs, 72 strikeouts, and 22 steals in 64 games, slowing down his on-base percentage to .371 OPS.691.
Hanwha also focused on the drop in performance this year, and found that it was affected by the trade last winter. Growing up in the Yankees Farm, Floral had high royalties on his team and was quite shocked by the trade. Although it could be a source of anxiety about adapting to the new environment, I was relieved to see Floral’s activism in person. Although he is from Latin America, he attended the meeting with his fluent English and polite etiquette. After completing the contract, seeing him congratulated by various foreign officials at the winter meeting site, I was able to see how good he was.
Floral said, “My family and I are all very happy for giving me the opportunity to be a part of the Hanwha Eagles. I look forward to every moment I have with my fans. I will do my best every game to help my team win beyond fall baseball for my fans.”
