After missing out on some of the top free-agent pitchers, the St. Louis Cardinals struck a multi-year deal on Tuesday to sign South Korean left-handed pitcher Kwang-hyun Kim.
According to The St. Louis Post-Dispatch‘s Derrick S. Goold, St. Louis now has a multi-year deal in place with the Korean southpaw and a press conference will make it official later this week.
Kim is a veteran in the Korean Baseball Organization, having played for the past 12 seasons with the SK Wyverns. He made his debut in the KBO as an 18-year-old in 2007 and quickly emerged as one of the league’s best pitchers.
Kim posted a 17-6 record with a 2.51 ERA, his lowest mark since 2010, and struck out 180 batters across 190.1 innings. In his 12 seasons pitching in the KBO, excluding when he missed the 2017 season with Tommy John surgery, he posted a 3.27 ERA and a 136-77 record across 298 games.
He will compete for a rotation spot in spring training, though he should be the favorite to win the team’s No. 5 rotation spot in 2020.