Anchor: Korean baseball’s biggest threat at the plate is taking his bat to the U.S. major leagues. Park Byung-ho will play for the Minnesota Twins next year, in one of the biggest Major League Baseball deals ever to secure an Asian player.
Bruce Harrison has the story.
 
Report: Slugger Park Byung-ho has signed a four-year, 12-million dollar contract with Major League Baseball's Minnesota Twins.

The Twins announced Tuesday they signed the deal with Park after two days of negotiations in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The deal could be worth up to 18-point-five million, including a 500-thousand dollar buyout, and a club option worth six-point-five million dollars for 2020. 
 
The 29-year-old Park finished the 2015 season with a point-343 batting average, 53 home runs and 146 RBIs, a Korea Baseball Organization record in 140 games. He also notched personal bests of 181 hits, 129 runs scored and 35 doubles.
 
Park spent most of his time in the KBO at first base. The Twins already have a crowded infield, and it’s unclear where Park will play, though there’s speculation he could become the team’s designated hitter (DH).
 
A spot at DH wouldn’t come as a surprise – Park smashed 52 home runs in 2014, making him the only Korean player to clear 50 in back-to-back seasons.

Last month, the Twins bid nearly 12-point-85 million dollars to secure negotiating rights with Park. His former Korean club, Nexen, gets to pocket that cash now that the Twins and Park have reached a deal.
 
According to ESPN, the bid is the second-largest ever for an Asian player after a 13 million-dollar bid paid by the Seattle Mariners for Ichiro Suzuki.   
 
The Twins said they’ll introduce Park at a news conference Wednesday morning (local time) in Minneapolis.
Bruce Harrison, KBS World Radio news.