Ji-hwan Bae

On September 23, 2017, the Atlanta Braves announced the signing of Bae as a free agent.[4] General manager John Coppolella claimed that Bae was the youngest Asian baseball player to sign with the Braves in nearly two decades.[5] By joining the Braves, Bae would have become the second player since Kwon Kwang-min, who signed with the Chicago Cubs in 2015, to leave a South Korean high school directly for professional baseball in the United States.[1] On November 21, 2017, Major League Baseball voided his contract with the Braves as a result of fraudulent contract negotiations.[6][7] The New York Times reported that, although Bae had agreed to sign for $300,000, the Braves planned to pay him an additional $600,000 by reallocating money promised to other signees.[8] The KBO League barred Bae from signing with any South Korean professional team for two years because he had skipped the KBO's draft to join the Braves organization, where he appeared with Atlanta's Florida Instructional League team.[9]

On March 27, 2018, the Pittsburgh Pirates signed Bae for a reported signing bonus of $1.25 million.[10][11] Bae finished the 2019 season with the Greensboro Grasshoppers.[12] He then played for Geelong-Korea in the Australian Baseball League during the offseason.[13][14][15] The 2020 Minor League baseball season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic,[16] and Bae was subsequently assigned to the Altoona Curve in 2021. At the Double-A level, he recorded a slash line of .278/.359/.413 with 12 doubles, five triples, seven homers and 31 RBIs in 83 games.[17] After the minor league season ended, Bae was assigned to the Peoria Javelinas and selected to the Arizona Fall League Fall Stars Game.[18] Bae spent most of the 2022 season with the Indianapolis Indians, where he appeared in 108 games, slashed .289/.362/.430 with 23 doubles, six triples, eight home runs and 53 RBIs.[17]

On September 23, 2022, Bae made his major league debut.[17][19] He started at second base for the Pirates in a game against the Chicago Cubs,[19] was walked once, hit a single, and stole two bases.[20][21] Bae made the Pirates 2023 Opening Day roster.[22][23] On April 4, 2023, he hit his first major league home run.[24]

In May 2018, Bae was accused of slapping, choking, and kicking his ex-girlfriend in 2017 on New Year's Eve, when he was 18 years old. [26][27] In October 2018, he was convicted of assault in court in Daegu and required to pay a fine of ₩2 million.[28][29][30] In April 2019, Major League Baseball suspended Bae without pay for 30 games because of the incident.[28][31][32][33] Although they have been characterized as allegations, Bae entered a guilty plea and settled the associated fine.