Cardinals sign top South Korean pitcher Kwang Hyun Kim

The St. Louis Cardinals searched all over the world, looking for the right kind of left-handed pitcher. They think they’ve found him in Kwang Hyun Kim.

The NL Central champions and the 31-year-old South Korean finalized an $8 million, two-year contract, a deal that would pay him $10 million over the two years if he pitches regularly.

Through an interpreter, Kim said Tuesday he had followed the Cardinals and their success while growing up and hoped someday to play for St. Louis.

At his Busch Stadium news conference, Kim held up a small sign that read “Hello STL.”

He gets $4 million annually and can earn up to $1 million each year in performance bonuses: $500,000 for 40 matches finished and $1 million based on starts: $300.000 apiece for 15 and 20, and $400,000 for 25.

Kim would get a $250,000 assignment bonus if traded and will become eligible for free agency when the contract finishes.

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Kim went 17-6 with a 2.51 ERA in 190 1/3 innings last season for the SK Wyverns, earning him the award as the best pitcher in the Korean Baseball Organization.

Kim held a sign that read “Thank You SK” at his news conference in St. Louis.

“He’s someone that had a lot of desire to come and play here in the States,” Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said. “We had a lot of analytical support that backed up the success he was having over in the KBO, and we felt that when you looked at our needs, especially when you think about the left side of our pitching, it made a lot of sense to pursue this.”

Kim could be the Cardinals’ first full-time left-handed starting pitcher since Jaime García made 30 starts in 2016.

It was Kim’s versatility that appealed most to the Cardinals.

The Cardinals had only two starts by lefties last year, both by rookie Genesis Cabrera. Kim acquired the KBO’s Most Valuable Player Award in 2009 when he went 16-4 with a 2.39 ERA. He is 136-77 with a 3.27 ERA in 298 games (279 starts) over 12 seasons with the Wyverns.

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