Griff McGarry; what could have been. The former top prospect may not have lived up to the hopes Philadelphia Phillies fans had for him, but he did provide the team something on the way out. The Phillies used the extra international free agent pool money they acquired from the Dodgers in exchange for McGarry to ink exciting South Korean pitcher Chan-Min Park on Tuesday.
East Asian scouting has been a trouble spot in Phillies history, as the team has employed a grand total of four players at the big league level from Japan and South Korea. Who could forget Tadahito Iguchi’s marvelous run replacing an injured Chase Utley back in 2007? Or Hyun Soo Kim’s fun-filled pitstop with the miserable 2017 team?
Despite these trivia answers, the Phillies have never had a player of significance come from that region of the world, and it’s something the team has sought to change in recent years. The club made a serious run at future World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto ahead of the 2024 season, and was also linked to right-hander Tatsuya Imai this past winter, but came up empty both times.
South Korea may not be sending the same amount of superstars to MLB as Japan does, but the nation of over 50 million people has produced plenty of big league stars like Shin-Soo Choo, Hyun Jin Ryu and Ha-Seong Kim, among others. The Phillies are surely hoping that today’s signing of Chan-Min Park will add another name to that list in a few years.
Hopefully Chan-Min Park signing will be the start of something big for the Phillies in Asia
Over-Slot Baseball founder Joe Doyle broke the news of the Park signing, reporting that the 17-year-old agreed to a deal worth at least $1 million. Doyle gave a bit of insight into the right-hander, claiming that he gets his fastball up to 94 miles per hour and has a four-pitch mix including a fastball, slider, curveball and changeup/splitter.
The Philadelphia Phillies are signing Korean RHP Chan-min Park, 17, to a 7-figure deal.
— Joe Doyle (@JoeDoyleMiLB) April 21, 2026
Park (6-3, 205) is up to 94 and can really spin it. He’s got four pitches and a polished operation/strikes. FB, SL, CB, CH/SPL.
Used the $500k for Griff McGarry to help get it done. pic.twitter.com/bvXLiyho00
Perhaps most interesting to fans was the last piece of information Doyle gave: the Phillies used the extra $500,000 in international bonus pool money they received from the Dodgers in the Griff McGarry trade in order to get the deal across the finish line. McGarry was once touted as the next big thing in the Phillies’ system, but command issues derailed his promising career.
Griff McGarry was supposed to be part of a future three-headed monster alongside Andrew Painter and Mick Abel that never came to fruition. Painter is making an impact for the parent club this season, but Abel was dealt away last summer in the Jhoan Duran trade. It’s a shame that the Phillies’ best laid plans didn’t come to pass, but at least they’ve gotten something out of the two prospects that didn’t work out.
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