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Ruben Cardenas returns to KBO with Kiwoom Heroes

Published: 14 Feb. 2025, 16:26

Kiwoom Heroes' new hitter Ruben Cardenas practices a rundown play at the Arizona Athletic Ground in the United States on Feb, 12. [YONHAP]

After getting a brief taste of Korean baseball last year with the Samsung Lions, American outfielder Ruben Cardenas is back in the KBO, this time with the Kiwoom Heroes.

Cardenas' short stint with the Lions was anything but sweet. Due to a back injury, he only played seven games after replacing slugger David MacKinnon in July. Cardenas, who batted .333 with two homers and five RBIs, dealt with whispers that he was embellishing the severity of his injury.

Cardenas was subject to some vitriol on social media from angry Lions fans. It came as a surprise, then, that another KBO team wanted Cardenas' service for 2025, a decision that Cardenas himself said was "interesting."

In a scrum with Korean reporters at the Heroes' spring training site in Mesa, Arizona, on Wednesday, Cardenas said he was only happy to get another shot in the KBO.

"I was very excited. I mean, I love the culture here. I love the style of baseball, and I love obviously a really good opportunity," he said at Arizona Athletic Grounds. "So I wasn't really hesitant. I was excited for the opportunity, and when I finally put pen to paper, I was happy about it."

Cardenas said he was ready to move on from last year's controversy surrounding his injury.

"I just want to do my job. I don't really want to prove anything to anybody. Everyone knows what I can do and what I'm capable of doing, and that's why I'm here," he said. "I don't have any resentment or anything towards them. I'm just trying to turn the page and move on to this year."

Incidentally, the Heroes will open the regular season with two games against the Lions on the road in Daegu. And Cardenas said he won't be affected by any hostile reaction from the Lions crowd.

Yonhap