5 years in the past, Wes Benjamin was making an attempt to determine himself within the Texas Rangers’ beginning rotation. Final season, he had one other go at making it in America, but was again in Triple-A with an ERA above 6.00. Now 33 years outdated and having returned to South Korea for a second stint, the excellent news is that Benjamin is producing one of the best baseball of his profession.
Benjamin at the moment owns a 2.53 ERA by means of 19 begins for the Doosan Bears, second-best amongst all KBO pitchers with at the very least 96 innings pitched. Solely Doosan teammate Gwak Been, at 2.36, ranks forward of him. Benjamin has pitched 106.2 innings, permitting 99 hits, 30 earned runs and solely 5 dwelling runs, alongside 108 strikeouts and 28 walks. His WHIP stands at a really wholesome 1.19.
Benjamin’s 5-7 win-loss file doesn’t do justice to how effectively he has pitched. He has recorded 10 high quality begins in 19 appearances and has allowed solely 0.42 dwelling runs per 9 innings, hanging out almost 4 batters for each one he has walked, and solely Been has a decrease ERA. It’s a important turnaround for a pitcher whose profession seemed to be shifting in the wrong way solely a yr in the past, when he tried to make the majors one last time.
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Benjamin’s Rangers Profession
The Rangers chosen Benjamin within the fifth spherical of the 2014 MLB Draft out of the College of Kansas. A left-hander who had beforehand been drafted by the New York Yankees out of highschool, he spent six years climbing by means of Texas’s farm system earlier than lastly reaching the majors in the course of the shortened 2020 season.
Benjamin made eight appearances for Texas that yr, together with one begin, and returned in 2021 after making the Rangers’ Opening Day roster. He finally appeared 21 occasions within the majors throughout the 2 seasons, making three begins and ending 2-3 with a 6.80 ERA. In 45 innings, he allowed 53 hits, 34 earned runs and 16 walks whereas hanging out 40. That, nonetheless, was the extent of his MLB profession.
After leaving Texas, Benjamin joined the Chicago White Sox group for the 2022 season and pitched for Triple-A Charlotte. He was performing moderately effectively there, posting a 3.82 ERA with 32 strikeouts in 30⅔ innings, however he was launched by the White Sox in Might, whereupon he signed with the KT Wiz of the KBO League. Fortunately howeverm Korea proved to be a superb resolution nearly instantly.
Benjamin debuted for KT in June 2022 and went 5-4 with a 2.70 ERA in 17 begins. He allowed solely 75 hits in 96.2 innings, producing a 1.02 WHIP, and the efficiency earned him one other contract for 2023. Given a full season within the rotation the next years, he turned one of many KBO’s main pitchers; Benjamin went 15-6 with a 3.54 ERA throughout 160 innings that yr. His 15 victories ranked second within the league and equaled the KT franchise file, whereas his 157 strikeouts ranked fourth. The Wiz went on to achieve the Korean Collection.
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Second Continent, Second Probability
Benjamin remained with KT in 2024, though his outcomes turned extra uneven. His ERA climbed to 4.63 and he surrendered 28 dwelling runs in 149.2 innings, albeit whereas nonetheless profitable 11 video games and hanging out 156. He saved one in all his finest performances for the postseason, throwing seven scoreless innings towards Doosan within the Wild Card collection. KT however elected to not retain him after the season.
A return to American baseball adopted, however not a return to the majors. Benjamin spent 2025 with the San Diego Padres’ Triple-A affiliate in El Paso with a view to incomes one other call-up, however struggled badly within the Pacific Coast League, going 4-8 with a 6.42 ERA over 108 innings, permitting 131 hits and 94 runs. His strikeout price additionally dropped considerably, from 9.4 per 9 innings throughout his last KT season to 7.3.
Even his route again to Korea was initially presupposed to be short-term. Doosan initially signed Benjamin in April as a six-week harm substitute for former MLB starter Chris Flexen, agreeing to a $50,000 contract. The Bears knew what they had been getting, or at the very least might be pretty positive, given his earlier KBO work; what they might not essentially have anticipated was for him to return pitching higher than he had earlier than.
Benjamin has decreased his ERA by greater than two full runs from his last season with KT and by nearly 4 runs from his 2025 Triple-A marketing campaign. And notably vital has been the fixing of the home-run drawback. After permitting 28 in 149⅔ innings for KT in 2024 and one other 16 in 108 innings at El Paso, Benjamin has surrendered solely 5 this yr.
He has additionally been remarkably constant these days. Benjamin allowed one earned run in 5 innings towards NC on 18 August, one in 5 towards Hanwha six days earlier, and threw six scoreless innings towards SSG on 28 July. Over his seven most up-to-date begins, he has allowed solely eight earned runs throughout 38⅓ innings, a 1.88 ERA, with 50 strikeouts and solely seven walks.
Benjamin’s first spell in Korea had already turned him from a fringe main leaguer right into a reliable beginning pitcher. His second has gone additional. A pitcher who had a 6.80 ERA with the Rangers and a 6.42 ERA in Triple-A solely final season now’s among the many highest in one of many world’s main baseball nations. Generally, you must go backwards to go forwards.
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