Ji Hwan Bae
Ji Hwan Bae
Position: UT
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 185 lbs
Bats/Throws: L/R
Born: 07/26/1999
Country: South Korea
Signed: International Free Agent, 2017 (Braves)
How Acquired: International Free Agent, 2018
Bonus: $1,250,000
40-man Roster: Yes
Rule 5 Eligible: N/A
Minor League Free Agency: N/A
Options Left: 2
Overview
Bae originally signed with Atlanta, but was caught up in the Braves’ international signing scandal. In his case, with the team limited to spending no more than $300,000 on any one player, Atlanta tried to give Bae another $600,000 under the table, in addition to the $300,000. MLB refused to approve the contract, which left Bae a free agent. The Pirates stepped in, spending about $1,250,000 to sign him. Bae has a good hit tool but may not hit for power. His speed is elite — 97th percentile according to Statcast — and he steals a lot of bases, although he hasn’t always been efficient at it. His defense is an open question. He started off at short, but played more at second as he moved up. Once he reached the upper minors, and especially in the majors, he started playing in the outfield, especially center. One cost of the Pirates’ habit of moving players around the field constantly is that they never reach their potential at any position. That could be happening with Bae. By the metrics, he’s been below average at second and especially short in the majors, but he’s been above average in the outfield, including center.
2018-20
Bae had a solid debut in rookie ball, then went to class A in 2019. Early in that season, he was hit with a 30-game suspension for assaulting his girlfriend. Once the suspension ended, Bae returned to Greensboro. He ended up having a big season, as he got red hot in August and put up a 370/458/500 line. That won him the batting title; he also finished third in OBP and tied for fourth in steals despite missing a third of the season. In 2018, Bae played short, then in 2019 he split his time between short and second. He had trouble with errors at short, a especially in 2018. In 2020, the Pirates brought Bae to their alternate facility, one of the younger players there.
2021-22
Bae skipped high A and spent the 2021 season at Altoona, except for a brief rehab after a knee injury. He started off slowly, which isn’t surprising given the big jump, but he hit .302 after May. The strangest aspect of Bae’s season was that, after hitting no home runs over his first two and a half pro seasons, he hit one during the rehab. Then he came back to Altoona and hit seven more over his last 52 games. He definitely changed his swing to get more loft. It didn’t hurt him otherwise, as he batted .286 after he returned to AA. Bae struggled some with LHPs, putting up a .682 OPS against them compared to .815 against RHPs. He played a little in center, but primarily played second.
In 2022, Bae played nearly all year with Indianapolis. He had a very good first half; in fact, he hit .322 in May and .324 in June. Considering that the Pirates had saddled themselves with several veterans who were struggling to get within hailing distance of .200, the obvious move was to call Bae up, but they didn’t, one of innumerable personnel decisions that have made no sense at all. In late July, Bae went out for several weeks with a knee sprain. After coming back, he slumped a bit in September. The Pirates finally called Bae up for the season’s last week and a half and he hit as well as anybody on the team the rest of the way. He had no platoon split. On defense at Indy, Bae played second about half the time. Most of the rest he split between center and short. With the Pirates, he played second and center.
2023-24
Bae spent most of the season with the Pirates, except he missed a month with a sprained ankle and another couple weeks on rehab. When healthy, he was generally in the lineup. He split his time between second and center. According to Statcast, he was below average at second and comfortably above in center. Bae’s hitting was up and down all year, but overall he didn’t hit well. He finished with a 231/296/311 line and seldom hitting the ball with any authority. He also had trouble making contact, striking out in a quarter of his plate appearances. He had no platoon split at all. Unlike a lot of his teammates, Bae didn’t get off to an especially good start at the plate, but he did on the bases. He was a major disruptive force in April, stealing 11 bases in 12 tries. The rest of the way he was just 13-for-21, and he had a number of baserunning blunders in addition.
In 2024, Bae opened the season in Indianapolis. The Pirates called him up twice and he ultimately played in 66 AAA games and 29 in the majors. The results were sharply contrasting. With Indy, he hit 342/433/504, although his success depended heavily on an unsustainable batting average on balls in play of .430. His walk and K rates were good, 14% and 22%, respectively. In the majors, those rates were much worse, 7% and 30%. His OPS with the Pirates was just .463, albeit in only 81 plate appearances. In AAA, Bae mostly divided his time between center and second. With the Pirates it was center and right. Bae ran much less often in AAA than in the majors for some reason, stealing 14 bases in 17 tries with Indy, while going 6-for-8 with the Pirates in a little more than a quarter of the playing time.
Stats
Transactions
September 12, 2017: Signed by the Atlanta Braves as an international free agent.
November 21, 2017: Became a free agent.
March 26, 2018: Signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates as an international free agent.
September 23, 2022: Contract purchased by the Pittsburgh Pirates.