The American media highly anticipated Deoksu High School’s right-hander Shim Jun-seok’s move to the Major League Pittsburgh Pirates, saying, “It’s about recruiting the next-generation ace.”
On the 12th (Korean time), The Athletic, an American sports media, highlighted the possibility of Shim Jun-seok going to Pittsburgh, citing the prospects of the Korean media, through a question-and-answer article related to the Pittsburgh team.
The Athletic said, “It seems that the Pirates will sign a contract with Shim Jun-seok, who is regarded as the best prospect from Korea. Shim Jun-seok is a player who was designated as the first overall candidate for the KBO League draft,” he explained.
An official familiar with the circumstances of the major leagues in the U.S. also highly predicted Shim Jun-seok’s chances of advancing to the major leagues. The official said, “In the case of Pittsburgh, a high-ranking official came to Korea last year to watch Shim Jun-seok’s pitching, and there is considerable interest in the actual recruitment.” It is also a team that can do it.”스포츠토토
Pittsburgh’s high-ranking official was identified as a person with considerable practical authority at the level of vice-captain, and a person with considerable work relevance to a position with considerable authority in relation to contracts with international prospects.
The media explained, “Sim Jun-seok was ranked 10th in the international prospect list by MLB.com,” and “It is comparable to Park Chan-ho, who played for Pittsburgh in 2010, when he was an amateur player.”
In particular, what the American media paid attention to is the talent of Shim Jun-seok, who already scattered fastballs reaching 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) during his high school days. Another American fan media, ‘Call to the Pen’, rated Shim Jun-seok’s growth potential much higher, saying, ‘Shim Joon-seok is compared to Park Chan-ho, but he has much more potential’.
The media did not hide their expectations, saying, “The Pirates are recruiting the next-generation ace,” and that Shim Jun-seok is a top-class prospect who can become the ace of the Pittsburgh mound in the future.
In addition, the American media introduced the club’s ties with Park Chan-ho and Kang Jung-ho, who played for Pittsburgh, as well as current members Bae Ji-hwan and Choi Ji-man, adding that it is a representative ‘Korean-friendly’ club.
The size of Shim Jun-seok’s contract is predicted to be around 1 million dollars. Shim Jun-seok will receive a down payment within the scope of the international bonus signing pool according to the Korea-US player agreement. As the bonus signing pool will be initialized on January 15 (local time), it is expected that the contract official will be announced after that time.