The Arizona Diamondbacks have made their second signing  in Korea, inking  catcher Kim Jae-yoon  from Whimoon High School in Seoul.

According to this article (in Korean) the signing bonus  was $150,000.

The article also says Kim was scouted at during last summer’s AAA World Junior Championships in Edmonton, a tournament the Korean team  won by defeating The United States 7-0 in the championship game.

I’ve seen Kim play a number of times. He’s got a catcher’s body, (about 6 ft. and 200 lbs.), is above average defensively, has a great attitude and is an extremely hard worker. Somewhat surprisingly, he wasn’t drafted by a Korean pro team this past August, but Arizona apparently liked what they saw over the summer, and again according to the article, flew him in for a workout in September prior to signing him.

The article also mentions his idol is Jin Gap-yeong, who plays for the Samsung Lions and  was on the team that recently won the gold medal in Beijing, and is without question the best defensive catcher in the KBO. Their styles of play aren’t entirely dissimilar.

Of course Kim isn’t the first Korean or even the first Kim to play for Arizona. Kim Byung-hyun was signed in 1999 and played for the team until 2003 when he was dealt to the Red Sox for Shea Hillenbrand.