MLB 2022 | Puig's contract in Korea won't be renewed, Colás may be the Sox's right fielder in 2023

Major League Baseball (MLB) Cuban Players News for the 2022 offseason. A compendium from several MLB sources

Oscar Colás. (Photo: MLB)

According to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.com, the Kiwoom Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization have decided not to renew Yasiel Puig's contract for the 2023 season.

Puig is currently embroiled in a legal matter involving an illegal gambling operation and recently withdrew from an agreement to plead guilty to a felony charge. The former big league outfielder was charged with lying to federal law enforcement officials investigating an illegal gambling ring. The 31-year-old outfielder hasn't appeared in the majors since the 2019 campaign and batted .277/.368/.474 with 21 homers and six steals in 126 games in 2022 with the Kiwoom Heroes.

Oscar Colás could be White Sox right fielder in 2023.

As you know, AJ Pollock opted out of his contract to become a free agent ahead of the 2023 season. This leaves the White Sox with some holes in the corner outfield positions to fill, with one potential replacement coming from within the organization. According to GM Rick Hahn, who met with the media in November, the White Sox are not ruling out the possibility of minor leaguer Oscar Colás serving as the team’s right fielder next season. “We think a lot of Oscar Colás,” Hahn said courtesy of Daryl Van Schouwen. “Don’t lose sight of that. Doesn’t mean there won’t be external outfield additions but I don’t want him to get lost in your offseason analyses of where we are.” Colás, MLB Pipeline’s No. 2 White Sox prospect, had quite an incredible 2022 season. He played primarily in High-A Winston-Salem and Double-A Birmingham, where he hit .309/.367/.516 with 21 home runs and 75 runs batted in.

Incredibly, Colás performed better in Double-A, which is notoriously known for being one of the more difficult places to hit. The Cuban owned a .927 OPS in 51 games in Birmingham, compared to a .844 OPS in 59 games in Winston-Salem. When ascended to Triple-A, in just seven games, the 24-year-old still turned heads with a slash of .387/.424/.645 (12-for-31) that included two homers, four RBI, and five runs scored.