Pirates intrigued by international free agent class, led by South Korea pitcher Jun-Seok Shim

The Pittsburgh Pirates were so intrigued by reports on South Korean pitcher Jun-Seok Shim, an 18-year-old right-hander whose fastball has touched triple digits, that international scouting director Junior Vizcaino flew to Seoul to see Shim pitch in person.

The Pirates made Shim the headliner of their international free agent class Sunday, agreeing to sign the 6-foot-4, 218-pounder who is ranked by MLB Pipeline as the No. 10 international prospect and second-ranked pitcher. Shim will sign with the Pirates later this month in Pittsburgh.

“Obviously, he’s one of the top prospects internationally and rightly so,” Vizcaino said Sunday afternoon on a video conference call. “He can do some things with the baseball, God-given. Once we saw him pitch, then we went after him as a prospect.”

Shim’s fastball sits in the 94-96 mph range and is complemented by a 12-to-6 curveball, with a slider and changeup in the works. He built a reputation by recording a 1.42 ERA while striking out 32 and walking nine in 19 innings for Seoul Duksoo High School in 2020, then tossed 14 1/3 scoreless innings with 21 strikeouts and 10 walks in 2021 before an elbow injury.

Shim dealt with control issues last season, when he was bothered by a lower back issue and had 40 strikeouts, 22 walks and hit 12 batters in 20 1/3 innings over 12 appearances, as his ERA jumped to 5.14. Shim, who is represented by Scott Boras, opted out of the Korean Baseball Organization Draft so he could play in the major leagues.

“His delivery, even though he was throwing very hard, wasn’t effort-y,” Vizcaino said. “You didn’t hear a lot of grunts or anything like that. The ball was coming out of his hand very clean.”

No official announcement from the @Pirates yet regarding Shin Jun-seok signing, but I hear the deal is pretty much done. You can
check this highlight video of Shim while waiting for the official word. #Pirates #MLB https://t.co/fi4QdKmQvL

— Daniel Kim 대니얼 김 (@DanielKimW) January 15, 2023

Pirates senior advisor of Latin American operations Luis Severino, who joined Vizcaino on the scouting trip to South Korea, noticed “the flight of the ball was different” on Shim’s pitches, with a bit of a hop.

“It almost gives the illusion that it goes up instead of down because it has so much backspin and so much velocity behind it, it gives you that illusion,” Vizcaino said. “If we’re seeing that, I’m sure hitters are seeing that. He was able to do those things, and hopefully we can get him over here with our pitching people, get them even better, obviously.

“It was really difficult to watch him pitch over there the way he was being handled and the way they were using him. I think once he gets some consistency in his repertoire and the way he’s being taught and the way he’s being trained, I think his ability is going to jump and develop, hopefully quick, we would think.”

The Pirates have agreed to terms with No. 10 international prospect Jun-Seok Shim and No. 26 Raymond Mola.

More: https://t.co/u3DUBYTA4m pic.twitter.com/jjuKm9YWlC

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) January 15, 2023

Where the Pirates had an international bonus pool of $5,825,500 and signed 22 players from eight countries, the San Diego Padres spent 96% of theirs to sign the No. 1 international prospect, 16-year-old Venezuelan catcher Ethan Salas, to a $5.6 million bonus.

The Pirates held a signing ceremony for seven players in Valencia, Venezuela, on Sunday and will have another to celebrate the signing of eight prospects Tuesday in the Dominican Republic.

pic.twitter.com/H7z4tgO7SS

— Raymond Mola (@mola_raymond) March 18, 2021

One of them is Raymond Mola, a 17-year-old from Peravia who is ranked No. 26 overall by MLB Pipeline. Vizcaino took exception to a scouting report that called the 6-2, 190-pounder corner outfielder a “large-framed teen,” noting that he accepted a challenge and worked hard to lose “a little bit of baby fat.”

“We like Raymond because of his bat and his ability to square the baseball, his ability to drive the baseball,” Vizcaino said. “Really surprising for how he plays the game for such a young kid, just the way he runs the bases. Does some things, at his age, (that) kinda tells you that he’s advanced, the way he’s thinking about the game, playing the game, aggressiveness. I was really happy with thinking about how he’s going to develop into a pretty good ballplayer. Because if we like the bat, then what was unexpected, he showed it to me when I saw him play.”

The Pirates believe they found a gem in 16-year-old right-hander David Matoma from Uganda, who was discovered by Germany-based scout Tom Gillespie and signed after his video got a thumb’s up from the club’s cross checkers.

“We’ve been communicating back and forth on David, and the videos were getting better and the velocity keep going up,” Vizcaino said. “The last video he sent me, I kind of challenged him. I said, ‘OK, we’ve got enough background. What do we want to do?’ And he said, ‘I want to sign this kid,’ and I totally trusted him with it.

“It was a little different because Africa is not a normal hotbed for us, as far as looking for players. But once we identified the talent, we pretty much approached him like we would do any other pitcher we liked. It was the same testing, the same background work, the same family traits and ability that we look for in anybody else. Once we identified that, we attacked it like we do anybody anywhere. When we identify what we like, we’re not shy on attacking players.”

Vizcaino also believes the Pirates found a sleeper in Dominican outfielder Angel Aquino, a 6-5, 207-pounder who is the nephew of two-time All-Star shortstop Cristian Guzman.

“He’s a big kid with athleticism, but he’s got some power,” Vizcaino said. “He’s a tall, lanky kid that’s going to get stronger. We think he’s going to be able to play a corner outfield and hit for power.”