BOSTON -- This time last year, Eric Lauer was stuck.
After opting out of his deal with the Pirates earlier in the year, he’d signed with the Astros, but he was staring at another Triple-A logjam and his 5.26 ERA wasn’t helping things. That’s when Korea called.
The Kia Tigers had been interested in Lauer throughout the summer, but as his August 1 opt-out with the Astros approached, the organization brought that to him again. Kia wanted to sign Lauer before that date, which would make him eligible for the KBO playoffs. July kept ticking away, but nothing changed.
“They finally came to me and they were like, ‘You have 12 hours to decide if you want to go to Korea or not,’” Lauer said. “And I was like … ‘That sounds awful, honestly.’”
Lauer and his wife, Emily, had just found out she was pregnant with their first child. Emily nudged Lauer to consider it. Besides, the money would beat a Triple-A paycheck. Kia had interest in signing Lauer back for the 2025 season, too, which would set him up to return to MLB in ‘26 instead. Lauer has been a revelation for the Blue Jays this season and will pitch the finale in Boston on Sunday after Saturday afternoon’s 15-1 loss, but back then, he was forced to consider every avenue.
“But immediately, I was like, ‘No. I do not want to go to Korea right now, this is the worst possible timing,’” Lauer said. “It worked out, though. [Houston] let me opt out early so that I could sign in Korea, then I went over there and had an amazing experience. It was so cool.”
KBO clubs are permitted to have up to three foreign players on their rosters, so Lauer joined American pitcher James Naile and Dominican outfielder Socrates Brito.
Lauer made seven starts in Korea, giving the Tigers a 4.93 ERA with 37 strikeouts over 34 2/3 innings while adjusting to pesky hitters who could foul off pitch after pitch. Suddenly, he was enjoying it.
“The plan was for me to go back,” Lauer said. “They had James, who last year won their ERA title. He did unbelievable, so they were fully expecting him to get a Major League deal. They were like, ‘If James is out, we’re signing you and we’re picking up another guy,’ because they can only have three international guys. I’m just waiting and waiting for this offer, though. …”
Lauer ended up texting Naile, who told him that he was getting “zero interest” from MLB clubs on a Major League contract. There were Minor League offers and split deals, but the guaranteed money in Korea was attractive to Naile again, which changed everything. When the Kia Tigers brought back Naile, they let Lauer go, so he decided to take one more run at the big leagues, or the “American league” as he called it.
When the Blue Jays called, Lauer jumped at the opportunity to be around guys like Max Scherzer, Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt and José Berríos. He wanted to learn again. He wanted to be around Pete Walker, too, the pitching coach who veteran starters love.
Looking back now, Korea was beyond anything Lauer could have expected.
“I keep telling people that I know what it’s like to feel like Vladdy in Toronto,” Lauer said, breaking out into a laugh. “In Korea, that was it. I was the tall white guy with a beard. I’d go to the grocery store and they’re like, ‘That’s a Tiger. That’s a Kia Tiger right there.’ Then, as soon as one person says it, they call you out and they scream it. They’re not quiet about it.”
Almost to a man, players who make the jump from North American pro ball to play in Korea or Japan love their experience. They all tend to come back to the same topic, too, which is the crowds.
“They have cheerleaders, but then they have a dude literally with a mic the entire game just screaming at the crowd,” Lauer said. “I thought, ‘Good thing I don’t know Korean, because this would be really distracting.’ You know how people boo when you pick off? They have an actual chant when you try to pick off. Apparently it means, ‘Come on, come on, the sun’s coming up tomorrow.’ To me, it didn’t bother me. I’ll pick off whenever I want. I didn’t understand it, so it isn’t mean to me.”
Now, here he is, arguably the most important pitcher in Toronto's rotation and one of the breakout stories of the Blue Jays’ season (4-1, 2.11 ERA) after taking the long way around the logjam.