Jose Miguel Fernandez (35), the ‘KBO hit king’, continues his career as a player in Mexico.
‘MLB Trade Rumors (MLTR)’, which deals with news of the transfer market, announced on the 10th (Korean time) that ‘Mexican League Saraperos de Saltillo has completed a contract with infielder Fernandez for the 2023 season. Fernandez played four seasons in Korea before going to Mexico,’ it was reported.
Until last year, Fernandez played an active role as the Doosan Bears’ flagship foreign hitter. He first signed with Doosan in 2019 and won the most hits king with 197 hits, and in 2020 with 199 hits, he reached the top for the second consecutive year. Based on his excellent hit production skills, he quickly melted into the Korean stage, and Doosan stayed with Fernandez for four years until last year, who ended the cruelty of foreign batters. 바카라
Fernandez recorded a batting average of 0.328 (723 hits in 2206 at-bats), 57 homers, and 351 RBIs in 568 KBO league games. He set a new record for the most hits by a foreign batter in Doosan history, and produced the second most hits as a foreign hitter in the KBO League history. Jay Davis, a foreign hitter who played for the Hanwha Eagles for 7 seasons (1999-2002, 2004-2006), ranked first in KBO League history, with a total of 979 hits in 836 games.
Deeply, he had a great desire to surpass Davis, the all-time No. 1 player, but Fernandez failed to renew his contract with Doosan this year and the challenge for the record was canceled. Doosan looked for a hitter who would add a little more weight to the batting line than Fernandez, who had a slugging percentage of 0.400 last year, and brought in Jose Rojas (30) for a total of $1 million. Rojas strikes similarly to Fernandez, but it is expected that his long hitting power will be much better.
MLBTR said, ‘Fernandez was DFA (assigned player designation) from the Los Angeles Angels in 2018, and after being released, he turned his eyes abroad and signed a contract with Korea’s Doosan. In the first year of his contract, he proved his worth by recording a batting average of 0.344, an on-base percentage of 0.409 and a slugging percentage of 0.483, and then he succeeded in extending his contract by one year for three consecutive seasons,’ he explained.
Then, ‘Fernandez recorded an on-base percentage of 0.391 in the first three years in Korea, and got more walks than strikeouts each year. He also hit at least 15 home runs each year. However, the 2022 season was lackluster, and he only hit six home runs. He still topped the .30 mark, but his on-base percentage was 0.353, his lowest personal season record, and his slugging percentage was only 0.400. Now Fernandez is going to the Mexican League and is on his personal 15th professional season,’ he added.
