Professional baseball team LG Twins has signed Australian left-handed pitcher John Kennedy, 32, as their new Asian quota pitcher.

The LG club announced today (August 15) that, "We signed Kennedy on August 14 for a total of $20,000, and after completing all procedures including the issuance of a work visa, we completed his player registration with the KBO today."

Foreign players in the KBO League must complete their player registration by August 15 every year in order to play in the postseason (PS).

This is a mechanism to ensure league fairness by preventing clubs ahead of the postseason from making abnormal contracts.

As they searched for a replacement after their existing Asian quota pitcher, Lachlan Wells, injured his shoulder, LG sought to sign Akitake Okada, who was playing for the Ulsan Whales in the Futures (minor) League.

LG requested a legal interpretation from the KBO secretariat on whether Okada would be eligible to play in the PS, and the KBO secretariat initially mistook Okada for a "new foreign pitcher signing" and replied that it was possible.

Consequently, LG was on the verge of releasing Wells and acquiring Okada, but the deal fell through after the KBO admitted to an error in rule interpretation and apologized.

The deadline for players participating in the Futures League to transfer to a KBO League club and play in the postseason, like Okada, is July 31 each year.

Quickly beginning to search for an alternative, LG signed Kennedy, an Australian national team pitcher who competed in the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC).


Kennedy signed with the Atlanta Braves of U.S. Major League Baseball (MLB) in 2015 and recorded 10 wins, 10 losses, and a 3.09 ERA across 94 appearances in four minor league seasons.

He is also a familiar face to Korean baseball fans, having played in international tournaments starting with the 2019 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier12, followed by the 2023 WBC, the 2024 Premier12, and this year's WBC.

The LG club expressed expectations, stating, "Kennedy is a tall (203 cm) left-handed pitcher with solid ground-ball inducing abilities, and we believe he will help manage the pitching staff for the remainder of the season."

Having wrapped up the procedures for signing Kennedy, LG requested that the KBO secretariat place their previous Asian quota pitcher, Wells, on waivers.

(Photo courtesy of LG Twins, Yonhap News)