With many Asian-born talents playing in MLB, interest in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) is higher than ever.

And with Brewers slugger and former NC Dinos first baseman Eric Thames having garnered tremendous attention this season with a .935 OPS and 20 home runs as of June 27, observers are on the lookout for the next potential KBO star import.

Interestingly, the next position player to garner interest out of the KBO could be Thames' old Dinos teammate in Changwon, outfielder Seong-Beom Na.

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Na is considered the top MLB prospect playing in the KBO. His performance, tools and age make him an intriguing commodity for MLB scouts. The muscular outfielder has made the KBO All-Star team in all five seasons played and was awarded a Golden Glove, given to best players in each position for outfielders, twice (2014, 2015).

Na had scouts' eyes as early as 2009, when he was a left-handed pitcher for the Yonsei University in Seoul. According to a report then, the Yankees and Dodgers were among five teams interested in Na. However, an achilles injury affected his fastball velocity. Before the injury, he sat in the low 90s, but teams did not want to meet the reported $1.3 million amount he demanded. As a result, he stayed put in Korea and was drafted by the NC Dinos in the 2012 KBO Draft as a second-rounder. While he was drafted as a pitcher, the team’s manager, Gyeong-Moon Kim, saw more potential in him as a positional player and decided to transition him to full-time outfielder.

In the Dinos' inaugural season, 2013, Na held on his own as a 24-year-old rookie, hitting .243/.319/.426 (96.2 wRC+) with 14 home runs — not bad considering it was only his second year as a full-time position player. He broke out in 2014, hitting .329/.400/.597 (146.2 wRC+) with 30 home runs and 14 stolen bases. Since then, Na’s hit above .300 with more than 20 home runs and 60 extra-base hits in every season. Na earned an exemption from the Korean mandatory military service in 2014 by being a part of the Korean squad that won the gold medal in the Incheon Asian Games.

In 2014 and 2016, Na garnered the most All-Star votes from fans. In 2016, he got off to a torrid start (.332/.413/.568 with 16 home runs) but fizzled after the All-Star break (.282/.357/.412 with six home runs), which raised some concern. However, so far in 2017, he has answered the critics by hitting .372/.431/.651 with 13 home runs and 33 extra-base hits, which is good for a 182.8 wRC+. His 3.27 WAR (per Statiz) ranks fourth among the KBO positional players this season — an impressive figure considering that he missed three weeks of action after tweaking his wrist attempting a diving catch in the outfield.

He is well on his way to another All-Star season with the NC Dinos, who are tied for first place in the KBO standings (46-27-1 as of June 27) with the Kia Tigers.

Na has expressed his desire to play in MLB, but not before he reaches goals in the KBO.

"Before I go to the major leagues, I have to be the best player in Korea," he said Ii a January 2016 interview. "It’s a long outlook from now, but there is a big dream in the corner of my heart."

Because KBO regulations require that a player play in the league for seven seasons before being eligible for posting, the earliest Na can be posted by the Dinos will be after the 2019 season, which would be after his age-29 season. If a team were to sign him then, he would enter the big leagues in his prime as a 30-year-old. Because of his upside, Na can develop as a more attractive commodity while having the time to work on his weaknesses.

Strengths

Na is listed at 6-0 and 220 pounds. While he may not be tall compared with other MLB outfielders, he has a muscular build that should work to his advantage at any level. Na has been known as a “workout addict” since his Yonsei University days. Even when injured, he doesn't hesitate to take advantage of the free time to lift more weights.

Because of his pitching background, Na boasts a plus arm from the outfield. In fact, he sat in the low 90s in a surprise relief pitching appearance during a 2015 playoff game. Originally, Na had the speed and agility to play in center field, but was later transitioned to right field. A KBO scout told me that Na profiles fine as a corner outfielder in MLB. While he could still play center field in Korea, he lacks the ability to immediately read the ball off the bat to play a nimble center field in the big leagues.

As noted, a bulk of Na’s values come from his bat. He has a very simple hitting mechanism. Load, quick step forward and launch. Na has a batting stance and swing that can be described as “clean and efficient.” He has a slight uppercut stroke that generates doubles and home runs when locked in. Here is a gif of his home run swing:

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via GIPHY

Here’s a nice replay of the same swing thanks to KBS Network’s 4D CAM:

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via GIPHY

Because of his strength, Na hits the ball hard. There is not as much publicly available KBO batted ball data, but Na’s high BABIP history suggests that he hits the baseball with authority.

Year BA OBP SLG BABIP 2013 0.243 0.319 0.416 0.279 2014 0.329 0.4 0.597 0.397 2015 0.326 0.373 0.553 0.374 2016 0.309 0.388 0.497 0.371 2017 (as of 6/27) 0.372 0.431 0.651 0.43

Hee-Seop Choi, a former MLB player with the Cubs, Marlins and Dodgers, and who played for the Kia Tigers from 2007 to 2015, praised Na’s power.

“The impact of Seong-Beom Na’s line drives are different,” Choi said in a Sports Chosun interview. “I was always nervous every time I was fielding first base (when Na came up to bat). The power of his batted balls spearing into the glove was incredible.”

A long-time KBO scout evaluated Na’s power as “plus.” Na has great raw power that should play in any MLB park. How far can Na can hit ’em? Here is one of his home runs from this season, hit against former MLB pitcher Donn Roach of KT Wiz.

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via GIPHY

In terms of approach, Na is an aggressive early-count swinger. He has hit for a career .410 average, 1.094 OPS and 21 home runs while swinging at the first pitch. He has also been strong while behind the count, hitting 1.308 OPS after 0-1 and 1.293 OPS after 0-2 counts.

Weaknesses

The scout I talked to mentioned Na's pitch selection tendencies as a potential weakness.

“His walk-to-strikeout ratio leaves something to be desired,” he told me. “He’s not an on-base percentage type of hitter.”

So far, Na has indeed not been a great on-base percentage hitter. Since his breakout 2014 season, Na has been a perennial .300 hitter with a 20-30 home run power. However, he has also struck out at more than a 20 percent clip in every season and has been below average in walk rate.

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The strikeout concerns might not be a big a deal. Jung-Ho Kang, who became a power bat with the Pirates until running into a slew of legal troubles, also had a high strikeout rate (21.2 percent in 2014). At the same time, Kang also walked well-above league average for the last three years of his KBO career before signing with the Pirates.

Na, on the other hand, has not shown himself to be as selective. In 2013, 2014 and 2015, he had 7.2 percent, 7.8 percent and 5.1 percent walk rates, respectively — all less than 1.5 percent from the league average. While he has a decent hit tool and a plus power tool, the relative lack of walks could be an issue. The scout went on to tell me that Na “profiles more as a no. 5 hitter in the lineup” because of those tendencies.

In 2016, despite going into a slump in the second half, Na showed an overall improvement with his walk rate, bumping it up to 10.3 percent. In 2017, however, his walk rate has gone down a bit to 8.0 percent so far. This might be because of the league's new strike zone, which is noticeably wider than in the past. The overall offensive production has gone down in the league this season. Meanwhile, the overall walk rate in the league has decreased from 9.3 percent to 8.2 percent, so Na's decreased walk rate shouldn't be cause for alarm.

However, his average, power numbers and overall offensive production have gone up, which may indicate that he went back to the aggressive approach and has used his hit and power tools to combat the bigger strike zone. In fact, according to Statiz swing rate strikezone charts, Na has been swinging at fewer pitches outside the zone while being more aggressive with the ones in the quadron.

His 2016 swing rate chart:

2017:

Na is a name to remember. He has put up great numbers in 2017 so far and will look someday make the move to MLB. As for the market, KBO players have been perceived to be “below market value” in cost, and that would likely be the case come winter 2019. Na has always been known for his size, athleticism and tools.

After years of All-Star performance in Korea, he has so far outperformed his career numbers in the 2017 season. If he keeps it up, Na could very well be a name MLB fans could hear a lot about come 2019.