KT Wiz officially announced that it has signed contracts with Mel Rojas Jr. (33), a foreign hitter, and William Cuevas (33), a foreign pitcher. Rojas signed a total of 900,000 U.S. dollars and Cuevas 1.5 million dollars. KT has started recruiting new foreign hitters by removing Anthony Alford, who it has been with for two years since 2022, from its list of players on hold. Alford displayed a consistent performance this season with a batting average of 289 with 15 homers and 70 RBIs in 133 games, but failed to extend his stay as he suffered a severe slump with a batting average of 1433 in five playoff games and a batting average of 1205 in five Korean Series games. Alford’s clumsy defense in the outfield was also a major factor in the failure to renew his contract.
KT has connected with Rojas who is participating in the Dominican Winter League while searching for a new foreign hitter. Rojas joined KT as an alternative foreign hitter in the 2017 season, and posted a batting average of 321 with 132, homers, 409 RBIs and 350 runs during the four seasons. In the 2020 season, he won four awards including homers (47), RBIs (135), runs (116 points), and slugging percentage (.680), and thus acquired the MVP of the regular season.
Thanks to this, Rojas signed a two-year contract after receiving a love call from the Hanshin Tigers of the Japanese professional baseball in the 2021 season, but left Japan bitterly as he failed to adapt to the Japanese baseball, which was a step higher than the KBO league.
Since the first year, the issuance of work visas has been restricted due to COVID-19 and only entered Japan in April, and with his late debut in May, he recorded a batting average of 217 with eight home runs and 21 RBIs in 60 games, including the disgrace of no hit in 21 consecutive at-bats. Since then, 2022 has also failed to make a big turnaround with a batting average of 224 with nine home runs and 27 RBIs in 89 games.
Rojas, who spent the 2023 season in the Mexican league, was batting 283 with five homers and 14 RBIs in 34 games in the Dominican Winter League. After signing the contract with KT, Rojas said, “I’m happy to wear KT’s uniform again. I had a lot of good memories while playing for KT, and I wanted to come back. I’m looking forward to meeting my teammates and fans again.” Cuevas has renewed his contract with KT for six seasons. Cuevas went 45-23 with a 3.64 ERA in 100 appearances in five seasons since debuting in the KBO League in 2019. 온라인카지노사이트
Cuevas joined Bo Schulzer as a substitute foreign pitcher in June, writing a legend of successful replacement overseas. After winning the title combined in 2021, he had to leave the team after two games last year due to injury, but with his upgraded skills, he became the third unbeaten winning percentage champion in the KBO league history after Oh Bong-ok (13 wins) in 1992 and Kim Hyun-wook (10 wins) in 2002. He is the first foreign player to do so. Manager Lee Kang-chul chose Cuevas as the best contributor who led his team from last place to second place.
“I watched Rojas constantly when he was playing in other leagues. Still, he is competitive,” KT’s general manager Na Do-hyeon said. “As I am in a familiar team, I expect that I will be able to display my skills and skills.” Cuevas also sought to renew his contract as his skills have already been proven and he is in good physical condition. I hope he will play the role of ace in the next season as well.”