Lotte Giants re-sign Aaron Wilkerson on one-year, $950,000 contract

Aaron Wilkerson [NEWS1]

The Lotte Giants have re-signed pitcher Aaron Wilkerson on a one-year deal worth up to $950,000.

The 34-year-old, who joined the Giants midway through the 2023 season, will earn $600,000 in guaranteed salary with $200,000 in incentives and a $150,000 signing bonus.

Wilkerson joined the Giants on July 18 to replace Dan Straily, whose fourth season with the Busan club was cut short after a disappointing start.

Over 13 games with the Giants, Wilkerson picked up seven wins and two losses with a 2.26 ERA, pitching just shy of 80 innings with only 20 earned runs on his line.

A former big leaguer, Wilkerson made sporadic appearances with the Milwaukee Brewers after making his MLB debut in 2017. He earned an MLB career 6.88 ERA with one win and one loss over 35 and a third innings pitched.

He spent 2022 in Japan, racking up five wins and five losses for a 4.08 ERA with the Hanshin Tigers, before returning to Triple A at the beginning of this year. He played the second half of last season on a $350,000 contract.

Wilkerson is the first foreign player to sign a new contract during the offseason, which started on Tuesday after the LG Twins beat the KT Wiz to the Korean Series title on Monday night.

Foreign players in the KBO can only be signed to one-year contracts, with each club allowed to sign up to three players. At least one of those has to be a position player, so teams nearly always sign two foreign pitchers and a slugger, although there has be a shift toward a wider range of non-pitching roles in recent years.

Foreign player salaries are capped at $1 million in the first year, but can be increased beyond that threshold if a player is re-signed by the same club.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]