Former Miami Marlins prospect Austin Dean left American shores in the winter of 2022, and moved to Korea. He is still there. And so far in 2027, he is putting together the best season of his professional career, emerging as arguably the top player in South Korean baseball.
Now in his fourth season with the LG Twins, Dean enters the final two months of the KBO campaign leading the league in OPS (1.091) and runs batted in (91). He also ranks second with 31 home runs (one behind Kim Do-yeong) and fourth in batting average (.342). The Triple Crown chase is well and truly on.
Dean’s production has helped keep the defending Korean Series champions among the contenders once again, five games back of first place with a 55-43 record. He was voted the KBO’s Player of the Month for June after hitting .382 with 11 home runs and 34 RBI during the month, and he has carried that form well into the second half of the season. Dean left Major League Baseball and moved to Korea after never quite making it stick at the majors level in America, but in Asia, he is feasting.
Dean’s Majors Career Never Quite Started
The now 32-year-old Dean was originally selected by the Marlins in the fourth round of the 2012 MLB Draft, and steadily climbed through the organization’s farm system. He made his major league debut in August 2018 and showed flashes of his offensive ability during his rookie season, batting .221 with six home runs and 17 RBI in 64 games. He followed that by appearing in 47 games for Miami in 2019, but never quite found his feet at the plate, pressing too hard before being traded to the St. Louis Cardinals during the following offseason (in exchange for Diowill Burgos, an outfield who never made it beyond A-Ball).
Dean’s major league opportunities became increasingly limited after leaving Miami. He played sparingly with the Cardinals across the 2020 and 2021 seasons before joining the San Francisco Giants organization in 2022, appearing in only three big league games while spending most of the year at Triple-A Sacramento. Across five major league seasons, Dean would ultimately play 126 games, batting .228 with 11 home runs and 42 RBI.
That proved to be the end of his MLB career. But there is baseball outside of America, and Dean’s acceptance of that marked the beginning of something much bigger overseas.
Marlins Were Right All Along
Dean signed with the LG Twins ahead of the 2023 KBO season and made an immediate impact, earning All-Star honours while helping the club win the Korean Series. Since then, he has only improved. He followed with 32 home runs and 132 RBI in 2024, added another 31 home runs during the Twins’ next championship-winning season in 2025, and has taken his production to another level this season.
At 6’0 and 213 pounds, Dean has also moved positions, transitioning from being a corner outfielder in the United States to spending much of his time at first base in Korea. The change has allowed him to focus on what he does best: hitting for power, while remaining one of the league’s most consistent run producers.
Players leaving Major League Baseball for Asia are often viewed as simply extending their careers, and perhaps many are. But Dean has done considerably more than that. Four years after his final MLB appearance, the former Marlins prospect has established himself as one of the KBO’s best, He has a strong claim to being the best player in the league, and the Marlins were right – he is an excellent baseball player. Just not for them.
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