SEOUL, - The Korean Series runners-up KT Wiz announced Thursday they have reunited with their former star outfielder Mel Rojas Jr., while also bringing back ace William Cuevas for another season.
Rojas, who won the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) most valuable player award in 2020, signed for US$900,000. Cuevas, who'd first pitched for the Wiz from 2019 to 2022 and then rejoined them in June 2023, agreed to a new $1.5 million contract.
In 2020, Rojas led the KBO with 47 home runs and 135 RBIs, while finishing third with a .349 batting average. He moved to the Hanshin Tigers in the Nippon Professional Baseball after that season but couldn't match his KBO success in Japan. Rojas spent the 2023 season in Mexico and the Dominican Republic.
The 33-year-old is expected to provide some pop in the heart of the Wiz lineup. Across his first four seasons in the KBO from 2017 to 2020, Rojas had 132 home runs and 409 RBIs in 511 games. Rojas ranked third in home runs and fifth in RBIs in the league over that four-year stretch.
The Wiz had Anthony Alford as their lone foreign hitter over the past two seasons, but decided to part ways with him after he hit 15 home runs with 70 RBIs in 133 games this year.
Cuevas was an integral part of their run to the first Korean Series title in 2021. He was cut in early 2022, however, with some elbow issues, but then the Wiz brought him back during the 2023 season.
The reunion was a rousing success, as Cuevas went 12-0 with a 2.60 ERA in 18 starts. Over his five seasons in the KBO, the Venezuelan right-hander has gone 45-23 with a 3.64 ERA.
Source: Yonhap News Agency