Staff Reports
World Baseball Network
The Korea Baseball Organization announced that teams in South Korea’s top professional league will be able to sign foreign players to replace injured players from outside South Korea during the 2024 season.
The Yonhap News Agency reported the change in the league’s rules was approved by the KBO board of directors on Wednesday.
Next season, when a foreign player on a KBO team’s roster is injured and will be out at least six weeks, teams will be able to either release the player from their contract and sign another foreign player, as is currently done, or they will be able to place the player on the Rehab List and sign a temporary replacement. Salaries for temporary replacement players will be limited to US$100,000 per month.
Currently, KBO teams are allowed to change foreign players twice in a season, but should they elect to sign a temporary replacement player, that will not count against that limit. They are allowed a maximum of three foreign players, two of whom can be pitchers.
The league’s hope is to preserve competitive balance when foreign players, who often have played in Major League Baseball and are elite pitchers or batters in the KBO, get injured.