KB News Desk
While he was flying into Korea on Monday for his new baseball adventure, Canadian pitcher Jordan Balazovic didn’t immediately get the sense that he was coming over here to play.
Then once he walked into Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Tuesday to pitch off the mound for the first time for his new team, the Doosan Bears, it finally dawned on him that he wasn’t in North America anymore.
“I’ve never been anywhere other than a few hours for baseball, so it didn’t feel like I was going to play until I got here,” Balazovic told Yonhap News Agency after his throwing session. “And I’m like, ‘Wow.’ Then it hit me.”
Balazovic will have to find his footing quickly once he formally joins the Bears’ starting rotation because they are expecting big things out of the right-hander as they try to get into the postseason.
The Bears announced their signing of the 25-year-old last Thursday. He will make $250,000 for the rest of this Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) season, replacing Raul Alcantara in the Bears’ starting rotation.
Alcantara, a former 20-game winner here, had been a disappointment in 2024 while slowed by elbow problems. He had a 4.76 ERA with a 2-2 record before getting the boot.
Balazovic was selected by the Minnesota Twins in the fifth round of the 2016 Major League Baseball (MLB) draft. He pitched in his first big league game with the same club seven years later, going 1-0 with a 4.44 ERA in 18 appearances that year.
Balazovic has spent this season in Triple-A for the Twins and had a 5-4 record with a 5.60 ERA in 24 appearances, including one start, before signing with the Bears. He struck out 49 batters in 35 1/3 innings.
He struck out 10 batters per nine innings in his minor league career and said Tuesday he’d love to keep that up in the KBO.
“My goal is to get as many strikeouts as I can, and just put up zeroes,” he said. “Put the team in the best position to win.”
After his first bullpen session at Jamsil, Balazovic said the KBO ball and the mound felt “a little smaller.” Otherwise, he didn’t anticipate much difficulty adjusting to KBO pitching environments.
“Everything felt good. It was the same thing with the timing,” Balazovic said. “My curveball, I was pulling a little bit. Splitter felt really good. Slider, that’s one pitch I’d probably have to figure out a little something for it. But everything else other than that felt good.”
According to Baseball Savant website, Balazovic threw four-seam fastball, curveball, slider and changeup in MLB last year. He averaged 95.1 miles per hour with his four-seamer and used that pitch about 47 percent of the time.
The Bears said Balazovic will have to get his work permit issued before he can start pitching for them in games, a process that could take a few days. The team is hoping he will be available by the weekend at the earliest.
