From: Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
Age: 32
Position: Pitcher
Superlatives: 2024 Choi Dong-won Award (KBO’s best pitcher)
Scouting report: Hart is a veteran lefty who went to the KBO after flaming out of the majors, and he very much fits the “crafty lefty” stereotype. He has a low-90s fastball that comes out of a low arm slot, and he primarily pairs it with a solid slider. He also has a changeup, a cutter, and a curveball, according to Eric Longenhagen’s scouting report at FanGraphs.com. Hart has a chance to establish himself as a back-of-the-rotation arm if he signs somewhere.
2024 Stats: 3.12 ERA, 144.1 IP, 82 K, 1.199 WHIP, 5 W in 24 GS
MLB Expectations
Cards on the table: If Erick Fedde hadn’t made a successful transition back to the majors from a stop in the KBO, we probably wouldn’t be paying Hart a second thought. But Merrill Kelly also pulled it off and has established himself as a viable major-leaguer again, so we’ll take a look at Hart, who thrived in the KBO last season.
(Also, as an aside, Hart is a good quote, and a not-insignificant part of me wanted to include this gem from a recent MassLive.com story about his attempted return to the majors:
“There have been times where I’m embarrassed to even tell people I was in the big leagues because they’re going to Google me and be like, ‘This dip-(expletive) had a (expletive) 16 ERA,'” Hart said recently. “There’s a piece of me that is pissed off and embarrassed and would love to get a sample size of a couple hundred innings and see what we’re looking at. If I have (an ERA of) 15 (again), I’ll go dig a hole, and you’ll never hear from me again.”
How could you not root for this guy?)
Hart fizzled out in the high-minors after a pretty promising first couple of years in the majors, and it doesn’t sound like he changed his arsenal much since his ill-fated MLB debut back in 2020. However, he does note that he tweaked his slider in a way that helped him stay a bit more consistent with it, and also saw a bit of a velocity jump – something he attributes at least in part to not being at full strength following a battle with Lyme disease when he got his first chance in the majors. If he’s throwing more like 91-93 with an improved slider, maybe that will be enough for Hart to follow in Kelly and Fedde’s path back to the majors.
Full article can be found at: https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/news/this-years-npbkbo-imports-tomoyuki-sugano-is-as-crafty-as-they-come-and-could-bounce-back-in-2025-more/