Mike Tauchman, a veteran outfielder who in 2019 played an unexpectedly large role in the New York Yankees‘ success, has signed a one-year deal to play with the Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization. Tauchman will make $1 million next season, the league’s maximum salary for a first-year foreign-born player, according to Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News.
Tauchman, 31 years old, appeared in 257 big-league games over the last five seasons. Over that time, he batted .231/.326/.378 (89 OPS+) with 17 home runs and 17 stolen bases. His contributions were worth an estimated 3.1 Wins Above Replacement, per Baseball Reference.
Most of Tauchman’s highlights came during the aforementioned 2019 season. Although he was acquired from the Colorado Rockies in a small trade, he ended up playing an outsized role for the Yankees. In 87 contests, he hit .277/.361/.504 (128 OPS+) with 13 home runs. He was worth an estimated 3.9 Wins Above Replacement.
Tauchman proved unable to repeat that magic the last two seasons. Indeed, the Yankees gave up the ghost of him returning to his 2019 form in April, when they traded him to the San Francisco Giants in exchange for left-handed reliever Wandy Peralta. Tauchman batted just .178/.286/.283 (56 OPS+) in 64 games out west.
Tauchman isn’t the first role player to head overseas during Major League Baseball’s owner-imposed lockout. Veteran utility player Freddy Galvis and outfielder Yasiel Puig have also agreed to play in either Japan or Korea next year. Meanwhile, veteran starting pitchers Masahiro Tanaka and Tomoyuki Sugano have opted to remain in Japan despite the ability to leave for big-league opportunities.
Tauchman won’t be the only former big-league player on the Eagles roster. Per Yoo, Hanwha has also retained the services of lefty Ryan Carpenter and righty Nick Kingham.
