Astros Close to Signing American KBO Pitcher?

Astros GM Dana Brown has made no bones about the fact he would be creative about finding ways to improve the roster. Could Brown be expanding his search into the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO)?

According to Daniel Kim, the Houston Astros could be close to a deal with Ryan Weiss of the Hanwha Eagles of the KBO.

Weiss, who will be 29 in roughly two weeks, has spent the past two seasons pitching in Korea, and is coming off a season in which he went 16-5 with a 2.87 ERA and 1.024 WHIP. He made 30 starts for the Eagles, throwing 178.2 IP and striking out 207 batters. The Eagles play in Daejeon, where he is known by fans of the team as “Daejeon Jesus”.

There have been several recent examples of American pitchers who went overseas to pitch in Japan and Korea, found success there, and then returned to find success at the MLB level. This list includes Erick Fedde (KBO, returned to MLB in 2024), Merrill Kelly (KBO, returned to MLB in 2019), Miles Mikolas (NPB, returned to MLB in 2018), and Colby Lewis (NPB, returned to MLB in 2010). The Astros are hoping they can find the next refined former American player to come back to the states and continue their newfound success overseas.

Weiss was originally a 4th round pick in the 2018 Draft out of Wright State by the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Weiss’ road to MLB has been has been full of detours. Currently, he has not appeared in an MLB game.

After being drafted by the Diamondbacks in 2018, he progressed his way through their system over the next few years (despite the 2020 MiLB season being cancelled due to COVID-19), reaching Triple-A in 2021 with the Reno Aces. He went 4-1 at Reno with a 5.04 ERA in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League (at that time known as Triple-A West). He was added to the 40-man roster in November 2021, but DFA’d in June 2022 when the team promoted former Astros SP Dallas Keuchel to the MLB roster and needed to create a spot on the 40-man. Weiss had struggled at Reno in 2022, with a 7.45 ERA in 9.2 IP.

Weiss was claimed off waivers by the Kansas City Royals and assigned to their Triple-A affiliate, the Omaha Storm Chasers. 2022 was his first year working primarily out of the bullpen, after having previously been a starter. His struggles continues at Omaha, where he went 2-2 with a 7.82 ERA in 35.2 IP out of the pen for the Storm Chasers.

He was released by the Royals in May 2023 after posting a 7.07 ERA in 14 IP.

On June 6, 2023, Weiss signed with the High Point Rockers of the Atlantic League (the same independent league to which the former Sugar Land Skeeters were a part of). In 9 starts for High Point, he went 5-3 with a 4.61 ERA in 54.2 IP. He was released by the Rockers on July 29.

5 days later, Weiss signed with the Fubon Guardians of the Chinese Professional Baseball League. He made 5 starts for the Guardians over the remainder of their season, going 4-1 with a 2.32 ERA in 31 IP. He was a free agent at the end of the year.

Weiss then returned to the High Point Rockers in April of 2024. His fortunes were somewhat different in that his strikeout totals exploded with 73K in 45.2 IP. In his MiLB career, Weiss averaged 8.4 K/9. After refining his control in the CPBL some, he notched a 14.4 K/9 rate for High Point. He went 3-4 with a 4.34 ERA. While his strikeouts exploded, he was still issuing nearly 4 BB/9.

On June 16, 2024, Weiss’ contract was purchased by the Hanwha Eagles of the KBO. Weiss would find himself alongside former MLB pitchers Hyun-jin Ryu and Jaime Barria in the Eagles rotation, and he would help them make a late season charge to get into the playoffs. Weiss went 5-5 with a 3.73 ERA over 16 starts. In 91.2 IP, Weiss posted a 1.156 WHIP and struck out 98 batters. More importantly, he only walked 29 batters, reducing his BB/9 rate to 2.8.

Weiss re-signed with Hanwha for the 2025 season as the team moved into a new park. In his first full season in the KBO, and leading the rotation, he turned in his best season to date, 16-5 with a 2.87 ERA and 1.024 WHIP. He made a full 30 starts covering 178.2 IP with 207 K. He averaged 10.4 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9. Weiss was instrumental in leading the Eagles to the Korean Series (the equivalent of the World Series in the KBO).