Former MLBer Hannahan: Byung-ho Park has a 'ton of power'

Byung-ho Park may be a wild card for the Minnesota Twins after they posted a winning bid of $12.85 million for his negotiating rights last week, but one thing the North American audience can expect from the Korean import is power.

"He's good - he's got a ton of power," former major leaguer Jack Hannahan told Charley Walters of the Pioneer Press. "If anyone says he played in a small ballpark, he did. But this guy can hit home runs in any park he plays in. He's got that type of power."

Hannahan, who spent eight seasons in the bigs, played against the 29-year-old Park in Korea and believes he'll be an asset to the Twins once he figures out the different pitching style in North America.

"Pitchers in Korea don't throw a lot of cut fastballs, and basically that's what major-league pitchers throw nowadays, cut fastballs and sinkers," Hannahan said. "In Korea, there's a lot of off-speed stuff, big slow curveballs. You won't see any good fastballs in Korea. American pitchers will challenge him with their good fastballs.

"But I think he'll make the adjustment, and he'll be fun to watch."

Minnesota won the bidding for Park on Nov. 9 and have 30 days from that point to negotiate a contract with the slugger.

Park hit .343/.436/.714 with 53 home runs and 146 RBIs for the Nexen Heroes in 2015.