GuideRail Feature: Hoy Park

Hoy Park was stepping into the batter’s box at PNC Field when he spotted a small South Korean flag appear in the left-field bleachers. The young Korean family of four eagerly waving the flag of their shared home country piqued his interest as the at-bat began. The broadcast cameras, now focused on Park, captured a smile that had broken out on his face. Chances are, the family was wearing a smile alongside him.

With that smile, Park bears a lot of love and pride. It’s the love of his parents and their support throughout his upbringing and in his move from South Korea to the United States. It’s the pride of the South Korean community in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area that chants and waves the flag whenever he strides to the plate. There’s also the pride of an entire nation across the Pacific watching Park and the other South Korean ballplayers making their mark on professional baseball in America.

The list of these players begins with Chan-Ho Park, still a legend to fans and young players in Korea. Among many others, there was Byung-Hyum Kim, Hee-Seop Choi and most recently players such as Shin-Soo Choo and Ji-Man Choi, a former RailRider. Park said that he received a lot of advice from Chan-ho Park and Shin-Soo Choo, both telling him to do what felt best in his heart. Choo, in particular, guided Park and gave him a magnitude of advice.

“Personally, I respect Shin-Soo Choo. I have respect for the way he has climbed up the levels in the minor leagues and how actively he plays in the major leagues,” Park said. “Choo told me about life, exercise and taught me how to survive in the minors.”

Due to the strength and organization of the amateur baseball scene in Korea, there is less of an incentive for young players to sign with Major League Baseball teams than for players in Latin American countries. Many young Korean prospects enjoy playing alongside their friends and childhood idols in the Korea Baseball Organization. But Park, like Choi and others before him, chose to forego the KBO pipeline to pursue a dream to play in MLB.

Growing up in Korea, Park was influenced greatly by the presence of baseball and the passionate sports scene.

“My family loves any type of sports,” Park said. “I played almost every sport available like soccer, volleyball, basketball and golf. My favorite sport was baseball and I played it almost every day. Baseball is definitely the most popular sport in Korea.”

However, his only knowledge of the sport in America came from watching Los Angeles Dodgers games on television. The Dodgers are a favorite team in Korea, Park says, because Chan-Ho Park and other Korean natives made the transition to California.

Garnering attention since his sophomore year of high school when he slashed .371/.475/.557 with one home run, many Korean scouts predicted Park to be the possible No.1 overall pick of the 2015 KBO draft. He also began to spark the interest of MLB scouts.

“I was approached by the Yankees during my sophomore year of high school,” Park said. “My parents liked the idea of going to MLB, but I wasn’t sure what to expect so I declined their offer at the time.”

His junior year for Yatap High School of the Gyeonggi province saw him post a .467/.614/.967 line over 44 plate appearances in 10 games, drawing even more attention to the rising prospect. Park looked forward to being selected in the KBO Draft, but quickly looked overseas as a different opportunity arose.

Park’s interests changed when he and his teammates from Yatap High School spent more than a month in the United States playing against top high school teams from California.

“I played against American players a few times then and I felt they had better power and basics,” said Park. “Despite all that, I felt that I played very well against them, so I started to feel confident about playing in America in the future.”

The New York Yankees, still interested in the middle infielder, were not the only team that had their sights set on Park. The San Diego Padres made a $1 million offer and five other MLB teams showed a deep interest. Still, the Yankees were Park’s priority and they officially signed him at the age of 18 as an international free agent in July 2014, offering him a signing bonus of $1.1 million.

Park was elated, and his parents also gained confidence at this moment. His father, Dong-hoon Park, said in an interview with South Korean newspaper SportsQ, “If Hoy makes a final decision, I will respect it and help him advance into the United States.”

With this contract offer, the Yankees gave Park an opportunity of a lifetime.

“Everyone knows about the New York Yankees,” Park said. “Even though I didn’t know much about Major League Baseball, I knew about the Yankees and I knew I had to sign with them for this opportunity.”

Despite being away from their home countries, young Latin American players usually have other Spanish speakers their age to bond with during their time the Minors. That’s not the case with Korean prospects like Park, making for a tougher transition to a new country and career. Park used a translator during his first two seasons of professional baseball, but since the start of the 2017 season, he has made a concerted effort not to rely on one during his time in the farm system. Instead, he leans on the aid of teammates to grasp the nuances of a language he studied during school in Korea.

“The first couple years, I was kind of struggling with the English. Now I speak kind of broken English, but I can talk,” said Park. “My teammates are my English teachers, so whatever I say in English, they’ll fix some words. But they’re still teaching me and I’m still learning.”

On the field, Park also felt some details of baseball differed from Korea to America, but the learning curves have not prevented him from a successful career in the Yankees organization.

“When I first came here from Korea, I felt the game was very different,” Park said. “Especially with the pitchers, they threw harder and had nastier stuff. I remember thinking I wasn’t going to get used to it. In Korea, they average 88-90 mph, but here everyone throws over 95 mph. I knew I had to work harder to adjust.”

Park made his professional debut the following year in 2015 at the age of 19 with New York’s rookie level Appalachian League team, the Pulaski Yankees. He hit .239 with five home runs and 30 RBI in 56 games with the team. In the field, he presented great quickness, smooth defense and a strong arm to make plays across the diamond.

In his second year, Park was moved up to the Yankees’ Class-A South Atlantic League affiliate, the Charleston RiverDogs. It was there that Park settled into the American style of baseball and quickly became a favorite amongst his teammates in the clubhouse.

“He is an incredible person,” then-teammate Blake Rutherford told MLB.com. “I love Hoy and I think everyone here loves him too. He brings a lot of energy, is respectful and plays the game hard. He is showing why he is one of the best prospects in the Yankees organization with the way he can do all things on the field.”

A .262/.358/.367 triple-slash over 86 games in 2017 earned Park an August promotion to Tampa in 2018 and he then quickly advanced to Trenton, the Double-A affiliate of the Yankees in 2019. There, Park turned heads when he caught the Bowie BaySox off guard and stole home during Trenton’s run to the 2019 Eastern League championship.

As there was no Minor League Baseball season in 2020, Park appeared in exhibitions at the Yankees’ alternate site in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He continued his trek in Double-A at the beginning of the 2021 season, now as a member of the Somerset Patriots after affiliate realignment, and was promoted to the RailRiders on May 18.

Park has impressed with an offensive power surge during his 16 games for the RailRiders, hitting for a .382 average and a 1.178 OPS. He blasted five home runs during the most recent 10-game homestand, already nearing his season-high seven long balls in 2017. His glove has also impressed, with multiple defensive web gems up the middle.

“Hoy has been a really pleasant surprise for us,” RailRiders Manager Doug Davis said. “I did have him at the alternate site, but he didn’t have a chance to play a lot so he started in Somerset this season. He was there for a week or 10 days, then came here and just went off. He’s had a very successful run so far and it is not in just one way. He has played great defensively, hit offensively and has hit balls over the fence. I think that would be the biggest surprise for me, but overall it is just fun to be around him.”

Perhaps even more than the impact of his play on the field, Park’s greatest asset may be the joy he brings to fans and the pride of those from his home country.

A week after the South Korean flag first appeared in the stands, it appeared again and Park went over to meet the family. They shared with each other their history in Korea and how their passion for baseball has also crossed international borders.

“I was shocked when I saw the Korean fans at the stadium,” Park said. “I thought it was so awesome to have that support.”

Park’s trek to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre has been a long and winding journey, making it all the more impressive that, considering the challenges in his minor league career transitioning to a new country and having been an ocean away from home since his teenage years, Park still wears that big smile on his face and coaxes it out of others, too.

Those smiles aren’t going anywhere -- certainly not now.