Austin Dean of the LG Twins celebrates after hitting a solo home run against the Lotte Giants during the clubs' Korea Baseball Organization regular-season game at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, Tuesday, Courtesy of LG Twins
LG Twins first baseman Austin Dean has been one of the premier sluggers in Korean baseball since his arrival in 2023. Over the past three seasons in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), Dean smacked 86 home runs and drove in 322 runs — ranking third and first overall in those categories, respectively, in that span.
And the 32-year-old American is enjoying a fine start to his fourth season in Korea, with a .371/.459/.661 line, five home runs and 12 RBIs through his first 16 games. Dean was in a four-way tie for the KBO lead in homers through Thursday.
Hitting is clearly Dean's calling card, but he doesn't want to be seen as a one-trick pony. He has been a strong defender at first base during his time here, which includes the KBO Fielding Award at the position in 2024.
That he won the award at a position he hadn't played much since high school makes it all the more impressive. The Miami Marlins drafted Dean as an outfielder in 2012, but he was an infielder at Klein Collins High School in Spring, Texas.
"I was an All-American at first base but the only reason I was over there is because we had guys that just couldn't fill the position in high school," Dean recalled with a smile during an interview with Yonhap News Agency on Thursday at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. "So I went from third to second to first, learned how to play all positions."
Dean spent most of his time in the majors and the minors playing the two corner outfield positions, but found himself at first base again with the Twins. He made a brief cameo in the right field in 2023 but has not played a position other than first base since then.
While first base may be the position where teams hide defensively challenged players just to keep their bats in the lineup, Dean said he takes his defense seriously.
"One thing that I do like and I do take pride in is trying to get better defensively," he said. "And I have a lot of respect for our defensive coach for really helping me and just getting me better every single day. He challenges me a lot and we're always constantly talking ways of getting better and a lot of hats off to him for that."
Before the weekend's action, Dean was one of just two first basemen who have logged at least 100 innings without making an error.
Source: Korea Times News
