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FuzzyRussianHat · 04-07-2025, 06:49 AM

East Asia Baseball had an impressive four-player Hall of Fame class for 2029 with each guy making it upon their debut. 3B Chul Park was the clear headliner at 97.7%, followed by OF Sang-Beom Shin at 86.2%. RF Toshiyoshi Kubo and SP Kenzaburo Miyazaki crossed the 66% requirement by more humble margins at 73.9% and 68.2%, respectively. 2B Ryuichi Sawa almost joined him on his debut, but narrowly missed at 62.5%. No one else was above 50%.

Dropped after ten failed tries was SP Jong-Gyeon Chung, who peaked at 60.8% in his debut but ended at 35.6%. He had a 15-year career with Busan, but ran into injuries and didn’t have a full season after his age 31 campaign. Chung had a 177-109 record, 2.77 ERA, 2561 innings, 2633 strikeouts, 473 walks, 137 ERA+, and 67.7 WAR.

The rate stats certainly were worthy, although he generally wasn’t a league leader. Chung was twice a Pitcher of the Year finalist and helped Busan to a 2009 pennant. If he had just a few more years to get to 200+ wins and 3000+ strikeouts, Chung probably makes it in. Instead, he was banished to the Hall of Pretty Good. Chung does live on as a Blue Jays ring of honor member with his #20 uniform retired.

Chul “Rags” Park – Third Base – Ulsan Swallows – 97.7% First Ballot

Chul Park was a 6’4’’, 200 pound left-handed hitting third baseman from Gyeongsan, South Korea; a city with around 267,000 partially within metropolitan Daegu. Park was your traditional leadoff hitter offensively with great contact ability along with top flight speed and baserunning skills. Park’s gap power was outstanding with a 162 game average of 42 doubles and 19 triples. He was also good for 9 home runs per 162. He regularly put the ball in play with a decent strikeout rate, but Park rarely drew walks.

That offensive profile doesn’t scream “third base,” but that’s where Park spent his entire career. While he had a good arm, he graded as a subpar but passable defender. Park was a true ironman and never missed a single game to injury over an 18-year career. He was as scrappy as they come with a fantastic work ethic and “can do” attitude. Those traits made Park a very popular player even without the towering home run power of most superstar batters.

Park attended Woosung High School like many other greats and earned plenty of attention with scouts. Bucheon took him 25^th overall in the 2003 EAB Draft and convinced Park to sign instead of attending college. He spent most of the next two years in their academy, although he did officially debut in 2005 with seven plate appearances at age 19. Park was on the roster full-time from 2006 and started most of that year with passable results.

He was a full-time starter from 2007 onward and put up 5+ WAR each of the next five years for Bucheon. Park won his first Silver Slugger in 2008 and was third in MVP voting. He led the Korea League with career highs in hits (235), and doubles (47). Park also had his career bests for homers (16), triple slash (.380/.403/.605), OPS (1.008), and wRC+ (175). In 2008, Park also hit for the cycle against Daegu.

Park won additional Silver Sluggers from 2009-11 for the Bolts, leading again in doubles in 2009 and in steals in 2011. Despite his efforts, Bucheon had been stuck mostly at the bottom of the standings for a decade. The Bolts did see some life in 2011 at 89-73, missing the wild card by three. However, Bucheon and Park couldn’t come to terms on a long-term deal, sending him to free agency at only age 26.

His more famous tenure began in 2012 on a four-year, $42,800,000 deal with Ulsan. The Swallows ended a four-year playoff drought upon his debut and made the postseason five times from 2012-17. Park won Sluggers in 2013, 2014, 2016, 2020, and 2022 with Ulsan. He was second in 2014’s MVP voting with league bests in hits (230) and triples (29). That year also had Park’s career high in runs at 130. He led twice in runs, twice in hits, thrice in doubles, thrice in triples, and once in steals during the Ulsan run.

Ulsan mostly struggled in the playoffs with first round exits in the mid 2010s, but 2015 was an exception. The Swallows broke through for the Korea League pennant, but fell to Yokohama in the EAB Championship. In that run, Park had 18 starts with 25 hits, 10 runs, 5 extra base hits, 14 steals, and 0.7 WAR. In the Baseball Grand Championship, Park had 19 starts, 19 hits, 8 runs, 4 doubles, 3 homers, 5 RBI, 94 wRC+, and 0.1 WAR. Ulsan ultimately finished at 6-13 in the event.

His playoff stats overall were unremarkable with 34 starts, 40 hits, 17 runs, 5 doubles, 3 triples, 3 homers, 18 RBI, 17 steals, .280/.313/.420 slash, 102 wRC+, and 0.6 WAR. Park also played off and on in the World Baseball Championship from 2008-21 with South Korea. In 59 games, he had 44 hits, 17 runs, 11 doubles, 2 homers, 15 RBI, 21 steals, .260/.296/.361 slash, and 0.5 WAR.

Park did well enough though to get a seven-year, $136,600,000 extension with Ulsan before the 2015 campaign. The Swallows were middling to end the 2010s, then fell towards the very bottom in the early 2020s. Park was steady through it all, even posting his career best 8.8 WAR in 2020 at age 34. In 2021, Park became the 22th EAB batter to join the 3000 hit club.

After an abysmal 59-103 campaign in 2022, Park became a free agent at age 37. His production had stayed steady to this point and he explored his options, but decided to return to Ulsan for three years and $28,300,000. Considering his impeccable durability and consistency, some thought Park might make a run at EAB’s hits title and the top spot in doubles.

The decline came sharply in 2023 and he was benched with -0.5 WAR and .706 OPS over 90 games. Park retired that winter at age 38 and immediately had his #20 uniform retired by the Swallows. With Ulsan, Park played 1787 games with 2236 his, 1145 runs, 464 doubles, 218 triples, 83 home runs, 758 RBI, 867 steals, .314/.343/.476 slash, 123 wRC+, and 59.3 WAR.

Park’s final tallies had 2700 games, 3403 hits, 1713 runs, 692 doubles, 323 triples, 144 home runs, 1117 RBI, 471 walks, 1613 strikeouts, 1262 steals, 694 caught stealing, .320/.348/.486 slash, 127 wRC+, and 90.4 WAR. As of 2037, Park ranks 41^st in games, 7^th in hits, 13^th in runs, 2^nd in doubles, 14^th in triples, 32^nd in total bases (5173), 5^th in steals, 8^th in caught stealing, and 69^th in WAR among position players.

The lack of home run power of course tanks his WAR a bit despite having such high tallies elsewhere. The total bases mark was especially impressive though considering the lack of homers. Park also ranks 72^nd in batting average among those with 3000 plate appearances. He ranks 5^th in WAR at third base specifically and leads all 3Bs in runs, hits, singles, doubles, triples, steals, and caught stealing.

On the world leaderboards as of 2037, Park sits 21^st in doubles and 49^th in steals while narrowly missing the top 50 in triples. When discussing East Asia Baseball’s best-ever leadoff guys, Park’s name definitely ranks near the top. At 97.7%, he captained a strong four-player 2029 Hall of Fame class.

Sang-Beom Shin – Outfield - Kawasaki Killer Whales – 86.2% First Ballot

Sang-Beom Shin was a 6’1’’, 175 pound switch-hitting outfielder from Incheon, South Korea. Shin was known for strong home run power, smacking 40+ in 10 of his 14 seasons and 50+ in five. His contact and eye were both merely average to occasionally above average. He also was subpar at avoiding strikeouts. Shin’s power was focused on dingers, but he did still get 20 doubles and 9 triples per his 162 game average,

Unlike most prototypical sluggers, Shin was actually very fast and was an outstanding baserunner, although he didn’t get ton of chances to flaunt it. The speed was far more evident in the outfield with around 65% of his starts in left and most of the rest split between right and center. Shin graded as an excellent defender in the corners and won four Gold Gloves in left. His results in center were more average, but you could certainly put him there in a pinch and expect passable results.

Along with his great athleticism, Shin’s durability was generally quite strong. He started 135+ games in all but one year from 2011-23. Shin’s biggest downside was his personality as he was often considered selfish and lazy. His work ethic was lacking and he definitely wasn’t going to take a leadership role. But Shin socked dingers and because chicks dig the long ball, he was one of the more popular players of his era.

Shin was one of the rare Korean players that spent his entire pro career in the Japan League. He was signed as a teenage amateur in January 2005 with Kawasaki and had his entire pro run there. Shin did still regularly come home to play in the World Baseball Championship for South Korea. From 2012-23, he played 95 games with 72 hits, 59 runs, 6 doubles, 35 homers, 67 RBI, 28 steals, .217/.292/.551 slash, and 3.1 WAR.

After four full years in Kawasaki’s academy, Shin saw sporadic use in 2009 and 2010 in his early 20s. He played 73 games and started 32 with mixed results. Shin also started three playoff games in 2010 for the top-seeded Killer Whales, but struggled to 2-12 as they were upset in the first round. He was still good enough to earn the full-time starting gig from 2011 onward.

Apart from a lousy 2013 effort, Shin was worth 40+ homers and 8+ WAR each year from 2011-21. The Killer Whales again were the #1 seed in 2012, but again lost in the first round. They spent the next five years competitive, but outside of the playoffs as Yokohama took control of the Capital Division. Shin led with a career high 132 RBI in 2012 and had his first 50+ homer season.

In 2015, Shin got his first major awards consideration with a second place in MVP voting, leading the Japan League with 8.5 WAR. That winter, Kawasaki gave Shin an eight-year, $171,000,000 extension. He had a four-year streak of Gold Glove wins from 2016-19 and took third in 2017 and 2019’s MVP voting. He still didn’t have a Silver Slugger to that point, a function of sharing a league and primary position with seven-time MVP winner Hitoshi Kubota.

Shin led in home runs for the first time with 57 in 2017. Kawasaki returned to contention with division titles in 2018 and 2019. The Killer Whales lost the 2018 JLCS to Osaka, but won the pennant in 2019. They would fall to Seongnam in the EAB Championship. Shin’s playoff numbers were good over 41 starts with 41 hits, 24 runs, 6 doubles, 5 triples, 11 homers, 25 RBI, .255/.288/.559 slash, 159 wRC+, and 1.8 WAR. In the 2019 Baseball Grand Championship, Shin had 14 hits, 11 runs, 8 homers, 12 RBI, .903 OPS, and 0.8 WAR. The Killer Whales finished 9-10 in the event.

In 2020, Shin finally won his first Silver Slugger (playing CF that year) and was second in MVP voting with league and career bests in homers (59) and WAR (10.1). He led in homers (53) and runs (113) in 2021 for his one MVP win and second Slugger in CF. Kawasaki missed the 2020 playoffs and had a one-and-done in 2021 despite a 103-59 record. The Killer Whales began a streak of losing seasons for the rest of the decade after that.

2022 saw Shin’s first notable injury with a hamstring strain costing him six weeks, although his rate stats were still good. In 2023, he abruptly fell off a cliff with only 26 homers, a .197/.252/.380 slash, 88 wRC+, and -0.2 WAR. Shin had one more year left on his deal, but decided to retire at age 35 after such a frustrating campaign. Kawasaki quickly retired his #15 uniform for his 14 years of service.

Shin had 2085 games, 1888 hits, 1256 runs, 257 doubles, 118 triples, 601 home runs, 1312 RBI, 645 walks, 451 steals, .254/.314/.562 slash, 162 wRC+, and 88.4 WAR. As of 2037, Shin ranks 39^th in homers and 81^st in WAR for position players despite not cracking the top 100 in any other stats. It was rare for a Hall of Famer to not even get to 2000 career hits, but big sluggers were generally the exception.

Simply between raw power, great baserunning, and strong defense, Shin was a very valuable player despite his other deficiencies. Staying your whole career with one team is a plus for many voters and most agree his awards shelf would’ve been much fuller if not for Kubota dominating at LF during Shin’s prime. He led in homers thrice, had an MVP, and helped the Killer Whales to a pennant. Those facts got Shin to 86.2% as the second of four inductees into the 2029 HOF class for East Asia Baseball.

04-07-2025, 06:49 AM	#2194
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 2,805	2029 EAB Hall of Fame (Part 1) East Asia Baseball had an impressive four-player Hall of Fame class for 2029 with each guy making it upon their debut. 3B Chul Park was the clear headliner at 97.7%, followed by OF Sang-Beom Shin at 86.2%. RF Toshiyoshi Kubo and SP Kenzaburo Miyazaki crossed the 66% requirement by more humble margins at 73.9% and 68.2%, respectively. 2B Ryuichi Sawa almost joined him on his debut, but narrowly missed at 62.5%. No one else was above 50%. Dropped after ten failed tries was SP Jong-Gyeon Chung, who peaked at 60.8% in his debut but ended at 35.6%. He had a 15-year career with Busan, but ran into injuries and didn’t have a full season after his age 31 campaign. Chung had a 177-109 record, 2.77 ERA, 2561 innings, 2633 strikeouts, 473 walks, 137 ERA+, and 67.7 WAR. The rate stats certainly were worthy, although he generally wasn’t a league leader. Chung was twice a Pitcher of the Year finalist and helped Busan to a 2009 pennant. If he had just a few more years to get to 200+ wins and 3000+ strikeouts, Chung probably makes it in. Instead, he was banished to the Hall of Pretty Good. Chung does live on as a Blue Jays ring of honor member with his #20 uniform retired. Chul “Rags” Park – Third Base – Ulsan Swallows – 97.7% First Ballot Chul Park was a 6’4’’, 200 pound left-handed hitting third baseman from Gyeongsan, South Korea; a city with around 267,000 partially within metropolitan Daegu. Park was your traditional leadoff hitter offensively with great contact ability along with top flight speed and baserunning skills. Park’s gap power was outstanding with a 162 game average of 42 doubles and 19 triples. He was also good for 9 home runs per 162. He regularly put the ball in play with a decent strikeout rate, but Park rarely drew walks. That offensive profile doesn’t scream “third base,” but that’s where Park spent his entire career. While he had a good arm, he graded as a subpar but passable defender. Park was a true ironman and never missed a single game to injury over an 18-year career. He was as scrappy as they come with a fantastic work ethic and “can do” attitude. Those traits made Park a very popular player even without the towering home run power of most superstar batters. Park attended Woosung High School like many other greats and earned plenty of attention with scouts. Bucheon took him 25^th overall in the 2003 EAB Draft and convinced Park to sign instead of attending college. He spent most of the next two years in their academy, although he did officially debut in 2005 with seven plate appearances at age 19. Park was on the roster full-time from 2006 and started most of that year with passable results. He was a full-time starter from 2007 onward and put up 5+ WAR each of the next five years for Bucheon. Park won his first Silver Slugger in 2008 and was third in MVP voting. He led the Korea League with career highs in hits (235), and doubles (47). Park also had his career bests for homers (16), triple slash (.380/.403/.605), OPS (1.008), and wRC+ (175). In 2008, Park also hit for the cycle against Daegu. Park won additional Silver Sluggers from 2009-11 for the Bolts, leading again in doubles in 2009 and in steals in 2011. Despite his efforts, Bucheon had been stuck mostly at the bottom of the standings for a decade. The Bolts did see some life in 2011 at 89-73, missing the wild card by three. However, Bucheon and Park couldn’t come to terms on a long-term deal, sending him to free agency at only age 26. His more famous tenure began in 2012 on a four-year, $42,800,000 deal with Ulsan. The Swallows ended a four-year playoff drought upon his debut and made the postseason five times from 2012-17. Park won Sluggers in 2013, 2014, 2016, 2020, and 2022 with Ulsan. He was second in 2014’s MVP voting with league bests in hits (230) and triples (29). That year also had Park’s career high in runs at 130. He led twice in runs, twice in hits, thrice in doubles, thrice in triples, and once in steals during the Ulsan run. Ulsan mostly struggled in the playoffs with first round exits in the mid 2010s, but 2015 was an exception. The Swallows broke through for the Korea League pennant, but fell to Yokohama in the EAB Championship. In that run, Park had 18 starts with 25 hits, 10 runs, 5 extra base hits, 14 steals, and 0.7 WAR. In the Baseball Grand Championship, Park had 19 starts, 19 hits, 8 runs, 4 doubles, 3 homers, 5 RBI, 94 wRC+, and 0.1 WAR. Ulsan ultimately finished at 6-13 in the event. His playoff stats overall were unremarkable with 34 starts, 40 hits, 17 runs, 5 doubles, 3 triples, 3 homers, 18 RBI, 17 steals, .280/.313/.420 slash, 102 wRC+, and 0.6 WAR. Park also played off and on in the World Baseball Championship from 2008-21 with South Korea. In 59 games, he had 44 hits, 17 runs, 11 doubles, 2 homers, 15 RBI, 21 steals, .260/.296/.361 slash, and 0.5 WAR. Park did well enough though to get a seven-year, $136,600,000 extension with Ulsan before the 2015 campaign. The Swallows were middling to end the 2010s, then fell towards the very bottom in the early 2020s. Park was steady through it all, even posting his career best 8.8 WAR in 2020 at age 34. In 2021, Park became the 22th EAB batter to join the 3000 hit club. After an abysmal 59-103 campaign in 2022, Park became a free agent at age 37. His production had stayed steady to this point and he explored his options, but decided to return to Ulsan for three years and $28,300,000. Considering his impeccable durability and consistency, some thought Park might make a run at EAB’s hits title and the top spot in doubles. The decline came sharply in 2023 and he was benched with -0.5 WAR and .706 OPS over 90 games. Park retired that winter at age 38 and immediately had his #20 uniform retired by the Swallows. With Ulsan, Park played 1787 games with 2236 his, 1145 runs, 464 doubles, 218 triples, 83 home runs, 758 RBI, 867 steals, .314/.343/.476 slash, 123 wRC+, and 59.3 WAR. Park’s final tallies had 2700 games, 3403 hits, 1713 runs, 692 doubles, 323 triples, 144 home runs, 1117 RBI, 471 walks, 1613 strikeouts, 1262 steals, 694 caught stealing, .320/.348/.486 slash, 127 wRC+, and 90.4 WAR. As of 2037, Park ranks 41^st in games, 7^th in hits, 13^th in runs, 2^nd in doubles, 14^th in triples, 32^nd in total bases (5173), 5^th in steals, 8^th in caught stealing, and 69^th in WAR among position players. The lack of home run power of course tanks his WAR a bit despite having such high tallies elsewhere. The total bases mark was especially impressive though considering the lack of homers. Park also ranks 72^nd in batting average among those with 3000 plate appearances. He ranks 5^th in WAR at third base specifically and leads all 3Bs in runs, hits, singles, doubles, triples, steals, and caught stealing. On the world leaderboards as of 2037, Park sits 21^st in doubles and 49^th in steals while narrowly missing the top 50 in triples. When discussing East Asia Baseball’s best-ever leadoff guys, Park’s name definitely ranks near the top. At 97.7%, he captained a strong four-player 2029 Hall of Fame class. Sang-Beom Shin – Outfield - Kawasaki Killer Whales – 86.2% First Ballot Sang-Beom Shin was a 6’1’’, 175 pound switch-hitting outfielder from Incheon, South Korea. Shin was known for strong home run power, smacking 40+ in 10 of his 14 seasons and 50+ in five. His contact and eye were both merely average to occasionally above average. He also was subpar at avoiding strikeouts. Shin’s power was focused on dingers, but he did still get 20 doubles and 9 triples per his 162 game average, Unlike most prototypical sluggers, Shin was actually very fast and was an outstanding baserunner, although he didn’t get ton of chances to flaunt it. The speed was far more evident in the outfield with around 65% of his starts in left and most of the rest split between right and center. Shin graded as an excellent defender in the corners and won four Gold Gloves in left. His results in center were more average, but you could certainly put him there in a pinch and expect passable results. Along with his great athleticism, Shin’s durability was generally quite strong. He started 135+ games in all but one year from 2011-23. Shin’s biggest downside was his personality as he was often considered selfish and lazy. His work ethic was lacking and he definitely wasn’t going to take a leadership role. But Shin socked dingers and because chicks dig the long ball, he was one of the more popular players of his era. Shin was one of the rare Korean players that spent his entire pro career in the Japan League. He was signed as a teenage amateur in January 2005 with Kawasaki and had his entire pro run there. Shin did still regularly come home to play in the World Baseball Championship for South Korea. From 2012-23, he played 95 games with 72 hits, 59 runs, 6 doubles, 35 homers, 67 RBI, 28 steals, .217/.292/.551 slash, and 3.1 WAR. After four full years in Kawasaki’s academy, Shin saw sporadic use in 2009 and 2010 in his early 20s. He played 73 games and started 32 with mixed results. Shin also started three playoff games in 2010 for the top-seeded Killer Whales, but struggled to 2-12 as they were upset in the first round. He was still good enough to earn the full-time starting gig from 2011 onward. Apart from a lousy 2013 effort, Shin was worth 40+ homers and 8+ WAR each year from 2011-21. The Killer Whales again were the #1 seed in 2012, but again lost in the first round. They spent the next five years competitive, but outside of the playoffs as Yokohama took control of the Capital Division. Shin led with a career high 132 RBI in 2012 and had his first 50+ homer season. In 2015, Shin got his first major awards consideration with a second place in MVP voting, leading the Japan League with 8.5 WAR. That winter, Kawasaki gave Shin an eight-year, $171,000,000 extension. He had a four-year streak of Gold Glove wins from 2016-19 and took third in 2017 and 2019’s MVP voting. He still didn’t have a Silver Slugger to that point, a function of sharing a league and primary position with seven-time MVP winner Hitoshi Kubota. Shin led in home runs for the first time with 57 in 2017. Kawasaki returned to contention with division titles in 2018 and 2019. The Killer Whales lost the 2018 JLCS to Osaka, but won the pennant in 2019. They would fall to Seongnam in the EAB Championship. Shin’s playoff numbers were good over 41 starts with 41 hits, 24 runs, 6 doubles, 5 triples, 11 homers, 25 RBI, .255/.288/.559 slash, 159 wRC+, and 1.8 WAR. In the 2019 Baseball Grand Championship, Shin had 14 hits, 11 runs, 8 homers, 12 RBI, .903 OPS, and 0.8 WAR. The Killer Whales finished 9-10 in the event. In 2020, Shin finally won his first Silver Slugger (playing CF that year) and was second in MVP voting with league and career bests in homers (59) and WAR (10.1). He led in homers (53) and runs (113) in 2021 for his one MVP win and second Slugger in CF. Kawasaki missed the 2020 playoffs and had a one-and-done in 2021 despite a 103-59 record. The Killer Whales began a streak of losing seasons for the rest of the decade after that. 2022 saw Shin’s first notable injury with a hamstring strain costing him six weeks, although his rate stats were still good. In 2023, he abruptly fell off a cliff with only 26 homers, a .197/.252/.380 slash, 88 wRC+, and -0.2 WAR. Shin had one more year left on his deal, but decided to retire at age 35 after such a frustrating campaign. Kawasaki quickly retired his #15 uniform for his 14 years of service. Shin had 2085 games, 1888 hits, 1256 runs, 257 doubles, 118 triples, 601 home runs, 1312 RBI, 645 walks, 451 steals, .254/.314/.562 slash, 162 wRC+, and 88.4 WAR. As of 2037, Shin ranks 39^th in homers and 81^st in WAR for position players despite not cracking the top 100 in any other stats. It was rare for a Hall of Famer to not even get to 2000 career hits, but big sluggers were generally the exception. Simply between raw power, great baserunning, and strong defense, Shin was a very valuable player despite his other deficiencies. Staying your whole career with one team is a plus for many voters and most agree his awards shelf would’ve been much fuller if not for Kubota dominating at LF during Shin’s prime. He led in homers thrice, had an MVP, and helped the Killer Whales to a pennant. Those facts got Shin to 86.2% as the second of four inductees into the 2029 HOF class for East Asia Baseball. __________________ Baseball: The World's Game fictional world reports Continental Baseball Federation world reports (8-tier promotion/relegation sim and college feeder)