Will Smith signs 10-year, $140-million contract with Dodgers

Will Smith, the catcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB), extended his contract with the team for 140 million dollars, or 188.7 billion won, over 10 years. He recently came to South Korea to compete in two opening games in the Seoul Series of the MLB this year.

Smith, who was accompanied by his wife, enjoyed street food in South Korea, including hotteok, fried dumplings, and tanghulu, in Myeong-dong, Seoul. He posted these pictures on his social media, attracting South Korean fans. After returning to the U.S., Smith’s wife posted pictures of the couple’s daughter in hanbok, the traditional Korean clothes that she bought in South Korea. Smith scored two runs with a batting average of 0.500 during the two games of the Seoul Series.

MLB.com and other U.S. media reported that Smith agreed to a 10-year extension of his contract on Thursday, a day before his 29th birthday. With the new contract, the Dodgers' main catcher has become the highest-paid catcher in the MLB. This is the first time that an MLB team has signed a 10-year contract with a catcher. With Smith’s contract extension, Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Smith himself will continue to wear the Dodgers’ uniform at least until 2032.


Heon-Jae Lee uni@donga.com