Tale of different Thursdays as Shin-Soo Choo, Hyeon-jong Yang swap countries, leagues

Shin-Soo Choo arrived Thursday in South Korea and was greeted like a returning hero.

A media horde awaited him after he was introduced as a member of SK Wyverns, which were purchased recently and will undergo a rebranding.

He said all the right things, such as it doesn’t matter if he plays left field or right field as long as he is helping his team win. He doesn’t care where he hits in the lineup, and doesn’t want his MLB pedigree influencing the manager’s decision.

But Choo said that he’s used to being at the Surprise Recreation Center this time of year, where he had been the previous seven springs with the Texas Rangers. Being in Korea feels different, but Choo is excited nonetheless.

Swap out the locations in that previous paragraph, and that’s how Korean pitcher Hyeon-jong Yang is feeling after joining the Rangers.

Yang threw his first bullpen session of spring training Thursday morning and spent 30 minutes in front of a camera for his introduction on Zoom.

He isn’t the biggest Korean star in the majors this season and he didn’t sign a major-league deal, but he’s still big news back home and he’s getting comfortable with his new team thanks to an assist from Choo.

Yang reached out to Choo earlier this month before signing with the Rangers.

“I texted to Shin-Soo Choo and I had a phone call with him, and Choo gave me a lot of support for this season,” Yang said. “He said, ‘You’re going to be great with the Rangers.’”

Yang believes that Choo will be great for the Korea Baseball Organization, which because of the COVID-19 pandemic saw a significant decline in both attendance and fan interest.

Choo, by far the best position player in MLB history from Korea and likely the most successful overall, is a big star in Korea even though he has never played there as a professional.

“I think he can bring more fans to the stadium,” Yang said. “I hope he does the best over there and brings more fans.”

Yang understands what’s ahead of him. He must pitch well enough this spring to earn a roster spot, and he might end up in the bullpen after making the majority of his appearances over 14 seasons in Korea as a starter.

He said that he ramped up his offsesaon program so that he is better suited to compete rather than slowly gearing up for a guaranteed rotation spot as he did with the Kia Tigers. He threw as many as 50 pitches in bullpen sessions before coming to the U.S., but threw only 32 Thursday.

Just as is the case for Japanese pitcher Kohei Arihara, Yang said he is adjusting to the different ball used in the majors but is almost used to it.

“For sure, the KBO ball and new ball is totally different,” Yang said. “I’m trying to adjust, but I don’t have any problem at all.”

The last question produced some laughs from Yang: How should Americans pronounce his name?

It sounds like “Yawng.”

“I think for Americans it’s a little tough to pronounce it ‘Yawng’ so they say ‘Yang,’” he said via translator Andre Park, who is the Rangers’ manager of international player personnel.

“But it doesn’t really matter. You guys call it Yawng or Yang. No problem at all.”