The move to trade the team’s top outfielder, Bryan De La Cruz, for a pitching prospect who has only thrown eight innings in two seasons, Jun-Seok Shim, and infielder Garret Forrester, the Pirates’ No. 18 prospect, was the most perplexing of the eight trades the Marlins made in the last six days of July. The history of Shim and the Marlins’ reasoning for the deal is as follows: Baseball operations director and president of the Marlins, Peter Bendix, had a choice to make as the July 30 trade deadline drew near.
First baseman Josh Bell, pitcher Trevor Rogers, former All-Star outfielder Jazz Chisholm Jr., and highly sought-after closer Tanner Scott had already been dealt by him. However, the situation involving De La Cruz was more convoluted, and there were conflicting views within. It had turned out that De La Cruz was a respectable starting outfielder—pretty excellent at best, and serviceable at worst.
He was traded to the Marlins in exchange for relief pitcher Yimi Garcia in 2021. He established himself as a regular in the lineup, appearing in 115 games in 2022, 153 games in 2023, and 105 games in 2024 prior to his trade. De La Cruz was leading the Marlins in RBI at the time of the trade, with 18 home runs and 51 RBI. He has been good enough to start for numerous clubs.
He will have a fair pay for the upcoming season, and the club will have authority over him until 2027. Only $706,000 is his seasonally adjusted pay. Why was there such a rush to relocate him? The quick response is that there was an underlying curiosity with Shim, 20, and a conviction that De La Cruz wouldn’t be a starter here when the club was prepared to compete.
The Pirates’ Pacific Rim scout, Fu Chan Chiang, discovered Shim via YouTube videos, and the team began scouting him, according to MLB.com. The Miami Herald was informed by a source that the Pirates brass recognized him as unique right away. The insider claimed that Shim was the best Korean player the organization had ever scouted and that his fastball, which appears to rise up on hitters, had the organization smitten.
According to the source, he was being pursued by other teams in Korea, including the Pirates, but there was speculation that he would choose to pitch in the KBO, where he would have been the top pick. Members of the Pirates organization were persuaded that Shim, who looked up to 2023 Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole, wanted to be the greatest, and that required going up against the best, after they had dinner with him.
In January 2023, the Pirates signed him and gave him a $750,000 contract. At the time, he was rated as MLB’s No. 10 foreign prospect by MLB.com. Scouts believe Shim has three good pitches, but the information made the Pirates—and later the Marlins—even more curious.
Shim had an exceptional spin rate, averaging about 3,000 revolutions per minute. Maybe this was a unicorn in Korea, since at 19, he was already 6-4 and 215 pounds. His fastball, which typically reaches 94 to 96 mph, reached triple digits. Additionally, MLB.com stated that Shim “has a really good feel for spinning a breaking ball, with a curve that has true 12-to-6 characteristics, and also is developing a harder slider.”
“An budding changeup on his part might provide him with a fourth effective option. Scouts found him to have a good feel for the strike zone and to be athletic and have clean arm action when pitching. There has always been worry about durability. He was sidelined as a high school pitcher in 2022 due to a toe ailment and again in 2021 due to an elbow issue.
He hasn’t played much since signing with Pittsburgh; in four games, all from last season, he has only thrown eight innings. Throughout those appearances with Pittsburgh’s rookie league squad, he struck out 13 while giving up three hits (including a home run) and three runs, while also walking three. Due to what the Pirates described as a mild shoulder ailment following a prior pectoral injury, he has not pitched this season.
However, a Marlins insider claimed that the right (throwing) shoulder is not structurally problematic and that the Marlins’ medical examination turned up no alarms. Bendix and the data-driven Marlins front office rely on numerous statistical analysis points, including WAR, some of which are openly accessible.
Due to De La Cruz’s poor performance on those criteria, the organization decided he would not be included in the long-term strategy. De La Cruz is hitting just.282 this season compared to his career on-base percentage of.302. The Marlins believed De La Cruz was disposable based on their assessment of him. However, there was internal debate and controversy regarding the Marlins’ decision to make this move. Bendix finally concluded that the Marlins need to take it on. At the trade deadline, the Pirates, for their part, wanted to add a power bat.
Shim is still not well, and getting into the major leagues is by no means a certain. There aren’t many successful Korean pitchers who moved to the US to play. Hyun-Jin Ryu pitched ten major league seasons and was a 2019 All-Star. Of all Korean pitchers that played in the United States, Chan Ho Park had the most success with 17 major league seasons. A few relievers, such as Byung-hyun Kim and Seung-hwan Oh, have had some success.
In the Luis Arraez trade, Miami also acquired Korean pitcher Woo Suk-Go from the Padres, but he is not expected to play in the major leagues. Leading the KBO in saves in 2022, San Diego believed he had a chance to be a key member of their bullpen. That has not been the case in reality. According to a another source, if Shim can’t remain healthy, he might have more of a bullpen profile in the back end.
Shim will be based out of the Marlins complex in Jupiter for the time being. The Marlins are hoping that he can pitch in their system in 2025 and have a healthy offseason. Regarding Forrester, the 2023 third-round selection from Oregon State is hitting.244 (.392) with 12 RBI for three clubs this season (Class A or lower) in his two appearances at Class A Jupiter.
For the first time since 2015, the Pirates are hopeful De La Cruz will help them return to the postseason. But he struggled early in his Pirates tenure, going just 3 for 22. That as well as this ▪ Peter Bendix, president of baseball operations for the Marlins, stated that “many teams were trying to make their team better for this year, and it led to opportunities for us to add maybe more talent than I might have predicted beforehand” following six days of trade activity. In the future, I hope we’ll be buying ourselves on the opposite side of that.
We have several extremely talented impact position players on our team. Agustin Ramirez, who was acquired from the Yankees in the Jazz Chisholm trade, “in particular is somebody that we really liked,” according to Bendix. He seems like an impact catcher to us. They are really difficult to locate. At Triple A Jacksonville, Ramirez is off to a.273 start (6 for 22) with three walks, four RBI, and a home run. This season, he has played in 29 Triple A games total, hitting.224 (.328 on base) with four home runs and 20 RBI.
The Yankees’ No. 3 prospect, 23-year-old Ramirez, “may be like a generational player,” Yankees Double-A hitting instructor Kevin Martir said earlier this year to The New York Daily News. Ramirez was ranked by Baseball America. “With such exceptional bat speed, not many players his age can hit the ball as hard and make contact as frequently as he can. He is undoubtedly an exception. ▪ One of the two players acquired in the Chisholm trade, along with Ramirez, is infielder Jared Serna.
He has been one of the most productive prospects acquired in the flurry of moves. At Double A Pensacola, he is batting.467 (14 for 30) with an on-base average of.543 and eight RBI. Yankees Triple-A player Serna, 22, “has been playing with 36-year-old, salty guys in the Mexican Pacific Winter League for five years now, and he fits right in with that group,” according to Baseball America, which placed him 11th in the Yankees system.
During spring training, hitting coach Trevor Amicone told The New York Daily News. “At-bats are always really great, regardless of level, when he crosses the street [to Himes].” He is unique. He’s pretty good, in my opinion [defensively]. Though it’s not my specialty, he’s quite smooth. ▪ The Marlins dropped to 19th place in ESPN’s post-trade deadline farm system rankings, according to Kiley McDaniel of ESPN.
“The Marlins have more than doubled their farm system value with a flurry of trades, despite having only moved 10 spots in these rankings,” he said. “After being acquired through trades during the season, Augustin Ramirez, Dillon Head, Deyvison De Los Santos, Robby Snelling, Jakob Marsee, Adam Mazur, Jared Serna, Connor Norby, Nathan Martorella, and Graham Pauley are all among Miami’s top 20 prospects.”Carter Johnson and PJ Morlando, their first two draft selections this year, also join that club. While Dax Fulton is expected to return from elbow surgery in the spring of next year, hoping to return to the mid-rotation look he was providing evaluators before suffering the injury, Thomas White has emerged as a noteworthy improvement over last year’s draft pick.
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