In 2017, the Rangers made a bid to land Shohei Ohtani, who was all the rage as a two-way star in Japan. 

Seven teams bid on Ohtani, who ultimately choose to sign with Mike Trout and the Angels. Ohtani did not know at the time that the Angels owner makes them one of the worst teams in baseball to play for. With zero playoff appearances in six year, he found out. 

The Angels, though, were one of the few teams that guaranteed to let him pursue both pitching and hitting. Most other teams wanted him to choose one.

Since then, he won the Rookie of the Year and three MVPs. Who knows what would have happened had the Rangers won the bid, or had they been successful years earlier when they tried to sign Ohtani out of high school. 

But Sunday, the Texas Rangers announced they were, in fact, able to sign a two-way Asian player out of high school. It’s Korean pitcher-shortstop Seong-Jun Kim. But first, the eighteen-year-old has to finish high school.

Back when they were courting Ohtani, the front office was mixed on allowing him to pursue being a two-way player. This front office is very clear. They fully intend to let Kim develop as a hitter and a pitcher. If it’s as a hitter, though, he might need to change positions. Corey Seager is in his way at the moment, at least those times he’s not injured. And Sebastian Walcott is supposedly Seager’s heir apparent. Most likely would be for Kim to DH those games he’s not pitching, like Ohtani.

By signing with the Rangers rather than waiting to enter the draft, Kim gets a head start on his journey to the major leagues.

It wouldn’t be fair to expect him to have as big an impact as Ohtani. But it will be fun to see how he develops on both sides of the field. 

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