Left-handed pitcher Logan S. Allen and corner infielder Patrick Wisdom have signed contracts to play in the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) for the 2025 season on one-year deals. Allen will be signing with the NC Dinos, while Wisdom will join the 2024 Korean Series Champions Kia Tigers.
Allen, 27, was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the eighth round of the 2015 MLB Draft. He would make his MLB debut in 2019 with the San Diego Padres and also pitched as a member of the Cleveland Guardians. He would spend the next three seasons with the Guardians before being claimed off waivers by the Baltimore Orioles in May 2022. Allen would spend all of 2023 pitching in Triple-A with the Rockies and Mariners organizations before moving to the Diamondbacks in 2024. He would appear in 12 games with the D-Backs, going 0-1 with a 5.46 ERA in 28 innings, striking out 21 batters and walking ten. He pitched a majority of 2024 with their Triple-A affiliate.
The 33-year-old third baseman, first baseman, and outfielder Patrick Wisdom was selected in the first round of the 2012 MLB Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals out of Saint Mary’s College of California. Wisdom would spend seven seasons in the Cardinals minor league organizations before making his MLB debut in 2018. He would spend one year there before being traded to the Texas Rangers for outfielder Drew Robinson. Wisdom would only appear in nine games for the Rangers in 2019 before signing with the Seattle Mariners for the 2020 season. He would get released by the Mariners in August, and about a week later, he joined the Chicago Cubs, but he had just appeared in two games that season.
He would rejoin the Cubs for the 2021 season and has played there for the past four seasons. In those years with the Cubs, Wisdom played in 412 games, hitting 84 home runs, driving 196 RBIs, and hitting for a .208 average, and from 2021-23, he would hit for three straight 20+ home run seasons. He struggled this past 2024 in 75 games, hitting .171 with eight homers driving in 23 RBIs.
Now, both Allen and Wisdom will get their first taste of professional baseball overseas for what should be a thrilling experience for both of them. The Dinos finished second to last in ninth place in 2024, and Allen could just be the southpaw they were searching for to help them climb the ladder in the standings. As for the Kia Tigers, they add a dynamic power-threat to go along with young phenom Kim Do-Yeong, as the Tigers look to repeat their fantastic run from last season.
