It’s a nice birthday present for Diaz, who turned 29 a few days ago. Once a top prospect within the Twins and Marlins organizations, he ended up with the Pirates, Orioles, Braves and Nationals organizations before ultimately heading overseas. Diaz played in parts of three big league seasons, but only managed 343 plate appearances during that time with a .181/.227/.340 batting line.
Although he never hit in the Majors, Diaz has a solid batting line of .258/.340/.479 in parts of three Triple-A seasons. He was very popular on the waiver wire during the end of his run in North America, where he was claimed off waivers or traded after a DFA five times in the 2022-2023 offseason. That’s partly due to his solid Triple-A production and former prospect status, but mostly because Diaz remained an elite defensive first baseman even amid his MLB troubles at the plate. Scouting reports peg him as a 70- or even 80-degree defender at the position.
He took that plus-gauntlet to Daegu, South Korea, midway through the 2024 season, and in 2025, Diaz finally unlocked the plus-brute force that had been missing from the game’s settings throughout his professional career in North America. The 6’2″ left-swinging slugger absolutely burst onto the scene in the KBO, bombarding opposing pitchers with a .314/.381/.644 batting line (165 wRC+) and 50 round-trippers this past season. Diaz landed 9.6% of his at-bats and fanned just 15.9%. His 158 (!!) runs batted in broke the KBO single-season record, and Diaz took home the KBO equivalent of a Gold Glove for his defense at first base.
Diaz will play the entire season next season at age 29. If he can replicate that massive production and continue to play his signature plus-plus defense, a return to the majors in 2027 is possible. Obviously the KBO is a hitter-friendly setting, but Diaz went above and beyond the level of offensive output that most successful MLB-to-KBO transitions enjoy.
As for Jurado, he returns for what is now a fourth season with the KBO and his second with the Lions. The former Rangers top prospect has started 30 games in each of the last three seasons – two with the Kiwoom Heroes and one with the Lions – and pitched to an excellent 2.87 ERA in 571 1/3 innings. He has fanned a below-average 19.7% of his opponents, but has also registered a small walk rate of 4.7% in his three KBO campaigns. Last year’s 197 1/3 innings and 2.60 earned run average were personal bests, and those 197 1/3 frames led all KBO pitchers.
Like Diaz, it’s likely that Jurado could eventually set his sights on a return to Major League Baseball. He threw 177 innings with Texas in 2018-19 and four innings with the Mets in 2020, but his short time in the Majors was a struggle. In 181 frames, he was tagged for a 5.97 ERA.
Even with these issues, a fourth straight year of this kind of production would probably generate some interest. Jurado isn’t a particularly hard thrower and doesn’t miss many bats, so perhaps offers from MLB clubs are too light to convince him to uproot himself and travel the world again. If he prefers to continue pitching in South Korea, he won’t exactly be strapped for cash. He has earned $5 million in earnings overseas with this new contract and won’t turn 30 until January. He will have plenty of opportunities to take home seven-figure salaries in the KBO as long as he continues to pitch effectively.
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