Doosan sign ex-MLB, NPB pitcher Thomas Hatch on one-year, $1-million deal

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Doosan sign ex-MLB, NPB pitcher Thomas Hatch on one-year, $1-million deal

Published: 19 Nov. 2024, 22:43

The Doosan Bears welcome new signee Thomas Hatch in an image posted on the clubs official Instagram page. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

The Doosan Bears announced Tuesday they have signed a former major league pitcher Thomas Hatch.

Hatch agreed to a one-year deal worth $1 million, the maximum amount for all first-year foreign players in the KBO.

Hatch, 30, was a third-round selection by the Chicago Cubs in the 2016 draft, but made his big league debut with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2020.

He was waived by the Jays during the 2023 season and then was claimed by the Pittsburgh Pirates in August that year.

The right-hander logged 69 innings across 39 games, including six starts, over those four seasons, and posted a 4-4 record with a 4.96 ERA.

Hatch pitched for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball in 2024. He only made five appearances for them, going 0-3 with a 7.36 ERA. In 15 games for Hiroshima's minor league team, Hatch went 5-4 with a 2.36 ERA in 72 1/3 innings.

The Bears noted that Hatch can touch 154 kilometers per hour with his four-seam fastball and can throw his slider, cutter, changeup and sinker for strikes. They added they're counting on him to munch up innings as a front-end starter.

Hatch joins another former big leaguer, Cole Irvin, in the Bears' rotation, as the Seoul-based team has now completed its foreign pitching acquisitions for 2025. KBO teams can each have a maximum two foreign pitchers.

This year, the Bears only received 13 wins from their four foreign pitchers, two fewer than their homegrown ace, Gwak Been.

The Bears had Brandon Waddell and Raul Alcantara at the start of the season but they won nine games in 26 starts combined before hitting the sidelines with injuries. The Bears replaced Alcantara with Jordan Balazovic, who finished with a 2-6 record in 12 starts.

The Bears acquired Keisho Shirakawa as a temporary injury replacement for Waddell, but the Japanese righty was shut down in late August with an elbow injury. Shirakawa went 2-3 with a 6.03 ERA in seven starts as a Bear.

Yonhap