Korean Pitcher Knocking on MLB’s Door

Sohn Hyuk (33, pitcher), also known as the husband of the LPGA star Han Hee-won (28, Fila Korea), is going to make a challenge to enter the Major Leagues.

It has been reported that Norfolk, the Triple-A team of Baltimore, made a decision to recruit Sohn and will inquire with KBO about his status sooner or later.

After retiring from Doosan early in 2004, Sohn moved to San Diego and has been living there thus far. About four months ago, he registered at a rehabilitation academy for pitchers in San Diego and received favorable evaluations from the authorities there. The academy sent video clips of Sohn pitching to 30 Major League teams and Baltimore showed interest in Sohn.

The problem is that Doosan, which registered him as an “arbitrarily withdrawn player,” still retains the rights on him. Accordingly, Sohn’s agent visited Doosan’s office on October 31 to ask the team to lift the designation on Sohn. As Doosan replied that, “it won’t be a problem as long as Sohn doesn’t try to come back and play in Korea,” it seems that there will not be any obstacles for Sohn’s challenge in America.

Once playing in LG, Sohn had more than 10 wins for two successive years. After being transferred to Haitai (currently KIA) in 2000, he refused to go and declared retirement. Although he returned to the ground next year, he moved his team again in 2003 to Doosan after he had his shoulder injured.

uni@donga.com