Jesse Sanchez is reporting that the Pittsburgh Pirates have an agreement in place with two top 30 international amateur free agents. Right-handed pitcher Jun-Seok Shim and outfielder Raymond Mola. I was able to confirm both players agreeing to deals back in September when Sanchez released his top 50 prospects list.
Source: #Pirates agree to a deal with RHP Jun-Seok Shim, #10 on Top 50 Int’l Prospect list and OF Raymond Mola, who ranks #26. The team has not confirmed.https://t.co/A3Ar3oUdTl
— Jesse Sanchez (@JesseSanchezMLB) January 15, 2023
Today is the opening of the 2023 international signing period, which will run through December 15, 2023. Most players for all 30 teams will be signing today, but neither of these two players will be signing today according to my sources. The Pirates will be signing 12 players today from five different countries. The rest (ten more players) are scheduled for shortly afterwards.
We will post scouting reports on the 12 players signing today once they become official. Check back for more info from today as it gets released.
Here’s a good video of Shim if you want to see what he’s all about. Reports out say he can hit 100, but I was told he tops at 101 MPH now.
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball.
When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.
The attached video definitely displays the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of Shim’s game.
The called strike three pitch to the first hitter was pure 🔥! Unhittable!
Good framing. Maybe they should look at that C.
Huh, unless I’m missing something, nobody in Pgh is covering this at all.
Jun-Seok Shim doesn’t show up once in baseball America’s coverage, from what I can find.
Don’t you think the equivalent of a high school senior tossing 101 before the draft would get a bit of attention?
You’d think, as he’s had coverage elsewhere.
I don’t think BA does so well with intl stuff these days.
I wasn’t going to press the issue, but since you’re calling out other media, I think P2 has been largely silent too. John has been linking his Sept. 30 article multiple times in the past week claiming he reported on Shim’s agreement. But that article states there was no agreement as 49 out of 50 top prospects have committed, only Shim hasn’t. ????
I mentioned it in another article. That’s just when I found out about it. The reason I didn’t report it, besides being asked not to, is that there was no guarantee that another team couldn’t sign him before December 15th. Shim was eligible to sign last year (2022) and the Pirates were out of bonus pool space. There were no trades allowed to acquire more space, so while they had an agreement in place in September, there was nothing they could have done if he wanted to sign before December 15th. Many teams were still scouting him into December, including the Red Sox, who saw him a lot recently.
I may be caught up in the hype of this kid, but he already has Boras as his agent, the kid’s ceiling is as high as any Asian kid ever! Chan-Ho Park good comp, Yu Darvish even better comp!
The whole thing seems quieter today than usual. I wonder if it’s because it is Sunday and playoff football is on
Expected more attention as opposed to being held mid-major league season.
sleeping off Sunday pasta and gravy
I saw 154 on the radar. Just saying…
On a serious note, fastball looks live and that slurve has good movement. I may have missed it, but what other pitches does he have?
For those wondering, it was already 11 PM in Korea by the time the signing period started, so it would make sense not to have Shim (or anyone else on that side of the world) signing right as the signing period starts. He was going to be the top pick in the Korean league draft according to people who cover the league, so his signing with a team in the U.S. is a big deal there.
How much moola did Mola get? What amount will Shim shimmy down to the bank with?🤑🤑🤑
I like to think the pirates are actually being strategic and making Korea a “thing”.
Next offseason there is a highly thought of OF who would be ready for a major league contract. (Jung Ho Lee) and the following year or two another quality major league type player (not necessarily all stars but seems to be contributing players).
I’ll be staying tuned but optimistic this is purposeful and can supplement the squad over the next few years
As mentioned in the linked article, they have a good reputation in Asia, which has helped them land players recently. It started with Ji-hwan Bae, then stretched into Po-Yu Chen, Tsung-Che Cheng and Hung-Leng Chang last year, which people should remember that people were reporting him signing on the 15th too, but he actually signed on the 17th because of the media there wanting to cover it.
That seemed to be the idea a few years ago when we struck it rich with Jung ho Kang. Unfortunately that didn’t work out long-term. I wonder if that makes Pittsburgh a more or less attractive landing space for Korean talent.
Nice to see the Pirates continue to swim in the deep end of the pool of IFA’s.
Quality instead of quantity? What a concept!
2 nice looking prospect additions, hope to see them in 5-6 years in Pittsburgh
Shim turns 19 soon and is fairly advanced. Don’t think he will be a 5-6 year guy
I just hope he turns into more than ‘a guy’, no matter HOW long it takes.🤓🤓
With how advanced he is do you think they could start him at Bradenton?
My guess is extended spring training first, then Bradenton, with the idea of limiting his innings. If you start him at Bradenton, you’d have to shut him down at some point, so he will probably slow build and join Bradenton already able to throw 3-4 innings his first time out
I’ll be waiting . . . .
Looking good!
huzzah!
Didn’t get a harumph out of you, fella!
Harumph, Harumph!! sorry…..