South Korean pitching prospect Park Chan-min, center, who has signed with the Philadelphia Phillies, can be seen in this photo. Captured from MLB's website
Korean high school pitching prospect Park Chan-min has signed with the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Phillies announced the signing of the 17-year-old right-hander Saturday (local time), with MLB.com reporting that Park received a signing bonus of just over $1.2 million, the highest for any pitcher in the 2026 international signing class.
The Phillies made a couple of trades in exchange for $750,000 in international bonus pool money, giving them enough financial flexibility to sign Park and persuade him to forgo an upcoming draft in the Korea Baseball Organization.
Park, listed at 191 centimeters and 94 kilograms, has gone 6-0 with a 1.37 ERA over 46 innings in 12 outings this season for Gwangju Jeil High School in the southern city of Gwangju. Park has struck out 65 but issued only seven walks for the school that has produced four Major League Baseball (MLB) players — Kim Byung-hyun, Choi Hee-seop, Seo Jae-weong and Kang Jung-ho.
