SEOUL, The South Korean baseball league announced Wednesday it will allow clubs to acquire temporary replacement foreign players midseason, beginning in 2024.

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) said under the new rule, approved by its board of directors, teams will have two choices when their incumbent foreign players suffer an injury that requires at least six weeks of treatment.

First, they can release that injured player and acquire a new one, as is the current custom. Teams can change their players a maximum of twice a season.

In the new option, teams can put the injured foreign player on the newly-created rehab list and sign a temporary replacement. In this case, teams won’t lose one of their two opportunities to change foreign players.

Once on the rehab list, the injured foreign players will be eligible to return after a minimum of six weeks. And when they return to action, their replacement must either be replaced by another foreign player or be waived outright.

Temporary replacement players may not be paid more than US$100,000 per month.

KBO teams are each allowed to sign up to three foreign players, with a maximum of two pitchers. Many of them are former major league players who assume significant roles on their teams, each as top-of-the-rotation starters or heart-of-the-lineup hitters.

The KBO said the new rule will address competitive imbalance caused by long-term injuries to foreign players.

Source: Yonhap News Agency