Jordan Balazovic Heading to Korea

[Seth Stohs]

In a move that seemingly came out of nowhere, Jordan Balazovic has signed with the Doosan Bears in the KBO. 

Surprising in that to this point, there has been no mention of the deal in Twins reports or any of the transaction pages. 

 

Balalzovic was the Twins fifth-round pick in 2016 out of secondary school in Mississauga, Ontario. He was a favorite prospect of Keith Law and reached the status of Top 100 Prospects. Unfortunately, he fought injuries off and on and struggled with injuries and finding any consistency. He did spend almost two months in the big leagues with the Twins in mid-2023. 

He is expected to make about $250,000 which is more that the minor-league portion of his two-way contract and could lead to more going forward.                                                                                    w                                                                                                                                                                                                           to more 

[Eric Blonigen]

Interesting. I somehow missed him being released. There were a few years where I was convinced Jordy Blaze would be a frontline starter for us. It’s a shame he never put it all together. Hopefully he does well in Korea and can still eke out a baseball career. 

[Shaitan]

I didn't see this coming.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/07/jordan-balazovic-signs-with-kbos-doosan-bears.html

[wabene]

Seth can a player just walk away from his affiliated team mid-season?

[Dman]

Surprised he decided to go to Korea, but maybe it is best for all concerned.  He hasn't gotten any better this year and other arms are moving past him all the time.  Maybe they can help him over there.  If he can find an out pitch and gain some confidence I think he can make it back to the states. He is talented but just hasn't been able to put it all together.

[2wins87]

He seemed so close to putting it together at times, maybe a stint in Korea will help him make it back to the majors sometime in the future.

Didn't seem like he had much of a chance to make an impact with the Twins this year, but his underlying numbers were actually quite good in AAA this year.  30% K and 3.2 FIP, but only a 58% LOB, which seems to have sunk him overall.  I''m not sure what to make of someone with a 5.6 ERA but peripherals like that.  I do think there is a decent amount of bad luck, but also he needed to perform better with men on base, particularly if he was going to be trusted as a reliever, so I don't think we can say he "should" have had a 3.2 ERA in this case either.   

[FlyingFinn]

And the transactions on the St. Paul web site show the pitcher, Diego Castillo, as having resigned with the Twins and back in St. Paul (as well as Peyton Eeles coming up to the Saints - thought he might be one of those guys who shuffles throughout the minors but didn't think it would start THIS year). Guess Castillo replaces Balazovic.