KBO League Turns to Cuba…Seeking Stable Supply of Players

The Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) has set its sights on Cuba as a stable future source of foreign players and is launching a market survey of the Cuban league.

According to the baseball world on the 27th, officials from the KBO secretariat and clubs will travel to Cuba next month to inspect the skills of players playing in the Cuban league and meet with officials from the Cuban Baseball Association to talk about the transfer system.

The Cuban Baseball Association holds annual tryouts for U.S. and Asian professional teams, a “showcase” event to promote players in their leagues.

According to a report by an online media outlet that covers sports around the world, the Cuban Baseball Association will hold a tryout this year from Sept. 12-14 (KST), inviting scouts from professional teams in the United States, Japan, and elsewhere to watch more than 40 players show off their skills.

Korean professional teams are also interested, the outlet noted.

Cuban baseball players who excel in the game often go into exile and play for big money in Major League Baseball (MLB).

Cuban players who do not turn their backs on their homeland play for small amounts of money in semi-professional leagues in their home country or play in the world’s second-largest market, Japan, through their national baseball association.

The Cuban Baseball Federation acts as an agent in the international transfer process, taking a percentage of the salaries Cuban players receive from foreign clubs.

Cuba’s amateurism has plummeted since its big-name stars headed to MLB. 메이저놀이터

The country has dropped to eighth place in the WBSC world rankings.

However, the biggest advantage of the Cuban league is that players’ salaries are very low compared to their skills, and the Cuban Baseball Federation, the country’s governing body, is said to set reasonable salaries when sending players to foreign clubs.

The Cuban market, with its abundance of potential low-salary players, is attractive to the KBO secretariat and its 10 professional clubs, which have been trying to figure out how to make the system work in practice.

As the quality and skill of Cuban players is the most important factor, the KBO Secretariat and the clubs will take a closer look at the Cuban player base during the visit to determine its potential as a long-term source of players, which will be discussed in-depth by the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors.