KT Wiz foreign hitter Mel Rojas Jr. will step on the Korean soil on the 28th.
KT announced on Sunday that Rojas will arrive in Korea via Incheon International Airport on Friday. Usually, foreign players join the camp immediately. However, KT chose "adventure" in which the first spring camp will be held in Gijang, Busan, not overseas this year. As a result, Rojas will also arrive in Korea early on.
KT's squad will move to Gijang on Wednesday. The team will take rest and self-training sessions before starting in earnest on Friday. Rojas will also unpack his luggage at Suwon and reunite with his players.
KT has chosen Rojas as its new foreign hitter for the 2024 season. The team signed a contract worth 900,000 dollars. With players racking up more than 1 million dollars, Rojas has become a "cost-effectiveness" alien. Even out of 900,000 dollars, the incentive is 300,000 dollars. This could provide a strong incentive for Rojas, who took a break from playing baseball for a while.
Rojas is an indispensable player in KT's history. Rojas joined KT in the 2017 season and was a long-time foreign player in the KBO who played for four years. He played in 511 games during the four seasons, posting a batting average of 321 with 132 homers and 409 RBIs overall.
In particular, in the 2020 season, he played in 142 games with a batting average of 349, 47 homers, 135 RBIs, 192 hits, 116 runs scored, and a slugging percentage of 417 with a slugging percentage of 680 to win four times in batting average. It was the first MVP honor since the foundation of KT, and it was also the first time since the launch of the KBO League that Switch Heater won the MVP award.
He joined the Hanshin Tigers of Japanese pro baseball for a large amount of money, but two years was a disaster. He played in the Dominican Winter League and the Mexican League. Now, he is in his mid-30s. Then, why did Lee and KT choose Rojas again.
"As I thought other candidates were ambiguous or unsure, Rojas was the top priority. The coaching staff and the front office all agreed. Looking at it recently, it seemed that he lost weight and still had the power to hit the ball compared to when he left Korea. Of course, I thought he would adapt quickly to the KBO league with our team. The conclusion was that we should go with the one with less chance of failure," he explained.