Rangers make international splash with top Korean two-way star

While the Texas Rangers continue to make moves they hope will help the team find a way to score more runs this season, it turns out that Chris Young is also working hard planning for the future. 

That includes working in the international pool of free agents. In that regard, it helps that Young squirreled away some money. The team spent less than half of their international free agent bonus pool money in January when the period began. That’s (excuse the pun) paying off now.

Rangers make international splash with Korean star Kim-sung Joon

On Thursday morning, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reported that the Rangers went out and got quite the international prospect. In fact, the top high school talent in Korea. Kim-sung Joon, a two-way player who turned 18 last week, is expected to receive a little more than $1 million in signing bonus money. 

The deal isn’t official yet, as the paperwork isn’t done yet. However, when it does, Texas will land itself Joon who is a right-handed pitcher and shortstop. The player continues what has become quite the legacy of his high school that also produced former Major League players Hee-Seop Choi, Jung Ho Kang, Byung-Hyun Kim and Jae-Weong Seo.

The Rangers had the money available to go after this international player thanks in large part to losing out on the free agent derby involving  Japanese pitcher Röki Sasaki. When the Dodgers won the sweepstakes Texas was left with about $3 million of their $6.3 million bonus pool remaining.

While things aren’t going the way the Texas Rangers expected on the field this season, it looks like Chris Young continues to build a base that will pay off for several years.