ARLINGTON -- Have the Rangers signed the “Korean Ohtani”? Well, they sure hope so.
The club announced on Sunday that it signed Korean two-way player Seong-Jun Kim as an international free agent.
Kim, a shortstop and right-handed pitcher, is in his final year at Gwangju Jeil High School in South Korea and will graduate in January 2026, at which point he will join the organization.
“We're so excited about Seong-Jun Kim, a world-class talent and also a world-class person,” said Rangers senior director of international scouting and development Hamilton Wise. “We've been so impressed with him defensively at shortstop and in the batter's box, but also on the pitcher's mound. We have full intent as an organization to develop him as a two-way player.
“We believe he has the qualities and ingredients for that challenge. But more than anything, we're so excited that this is a player and a person who represents our organizational values as the Texas Rangers. He's a world-class competitor. He has the character and mental makeup to impact the game in this organization positively for many years to come.”
Kim is the fifth player from his high school to sign with an MLB team -- joining Byung-Hyun Kim (ARI, RHP, 1999), Hee-Seop Choi (CHC, 1B, 1999), Jae Weong Seo (NYM, RHP, 1998) and Jung-Ho Kang (PIT, INF, 2015) -- but he is the first to sign directly out of school.
Kim, with Rangers international scout Kwangmin “Andre” Park as his interpreter, said that he chose to come stateside over opting for the KBO Draft because he felt like it would help him get to the big leagues faster.
“It's gonna be hard, not easy,” Kim said. “But I will do my best. I'm not going to regret anything at all. I will do my best. … If I can improve better and earlier, I can be the best player in the big leagues. That's why I decided to sign with the Texas Rangers.”
The 6-foot-2, 185-pound Kim was named the 2024 Amateur HS Player of the Year as an underclassmen, as voted on by KBSA.
This year, he was named the 2025 First Half Weekend League MVP, with the second half of the season starting in a week. Kim has shown a 95-mph fastball on the mound, while hitting .333 on the season with a 1.015 OPS as a position player.
Wise said that signing a Korean high schooler alone presents interesting challenges for the organization before you even consider what it’ll take for Kim to be a two-way player.
“The food's different, the language is different, the people and coaching styles are different,” Wise asid. “We have to have resources around him to put him in a position of success. We're using this next year to get our ducks in a row, so to speak, and make sure that he can hit the ground running.”
At this point, Kim is more refined as a pitcher, armed with a great fastball, a pair of good breaking balls and a splitter that he can get good swings and misses on.
And while many throughout baseball see Kim as a pitcher more than a hitter, the Rangers want to develop him as a player on both sides of the field. Texas believes that he has the mindset to make that all possible.
“I think the key to this whole thing -- we've talked internally about this endlessly -- it’s not the ability for players over there to do this, but do they want to?” Wise said. “Do they want to come over to Major League Baseball? They know what it entails. Are they going to cower in fear if things are hard? Or are they going to lean into that? This kid is aware of the gravity of the decision that was made.
“We have a ton of background on who he is as a person. He is a really impressive young man. So we're very excited about that piece. It’s a big challenge, but if he conquers the transition, we have no doubt the talent will play out.”