The NC Dinos of the Korea Baseball Organization are signing a new infielder Matt Davidson to a $1.5 million deal with a 2026 club option worth $1.7 million (h/t). Jeeho Yoo from Yonhap News).
The 34-year-old Davidson signed his first contract with the Dinos in January. Once a first-round pick in the Diamondbacks' 2009 draft, Davidson was a consistent top-100 prospect in the early 2010s. He pitched in parts of six big league seasons, but never fully established himself successfully in the majors. He played just 31 total big league games for Arizona. While he hit a decent .237/.333/.434 during that time, he was shipped to Chicago as part of the deal Addison Reed to the Diamondbacks the following offseason.
After arriving in Chicago, Davidson was relegated to the minor leagues for the first few years of his time with the organization, where he had fairly good success; The slugger is a career .253/.335/.479 hitter at the Triple-A level and demonstrated 20-homer power for the club's Triple-A affiliate in Charlotte. He played semi-annually with the White Sox from 2017 to 2018, hitting a respectable .224/.291/.435 with 46 home runs during that time, although he also hit an unstoppable 35.1%. Since the end of the 2018 season, Davidson has played just 33 games at the big league level. He most recently hit .167/.167/.292 in an eight-game stint with the Athletics in 2022.
In 2023, Davidson traveled overseas to play baseball in Asia, although he did not initially go to the KBO. He first went to Japan to play for Nippon Professional Baseball's Hiroshima Carp. In 117 games for the Carp, he hit a mediocre .224/.288/.452 overall. While he hit 21 home runs, his high strikeout rates and weak on-base rate led the club to part ways with him. That led him to the Dinos and his first season in Korea couldn't have gone better. As his club's primary first baseman, Davidson hit an outstanding .306/.370/.633 in 131 games. He hit a KBO-leading 46 home runs and ranked third in the league with a 1.003 OPS.
This dominant performance clearly caught the attention of the Dinos and they quickly locked him up for the next two seasons after his performance helped keep the team somewhat competitive during a disappointing 61-81 season. While Davidson's deal guaranteed him just $700,000 last winter, he was guaranteed more than double that amount this year and could earn a total of more than $3 million over the life of the contract if next year's option is exercised is taken. Given Davidson's age, it's unclear whether a comeback to the majors is in the cards for him when his contract with the Dinos ends. However, if he continues to be as successful as he was last year, he could follow in Davidson's footsteps Eric Thames and wants to revive his career in the US after years of posting supernatural numbers in KBO games.
