Socrates Brito, a foreign hitter who played for the KIA Tigers in professional baseball for three years and failed to renew his contract, left a touching goodbye. 토토사이트

Socrates said on his SNS account on the 27th, "I'd like to thank the club for allowing me to become a member of the KIA Tigers for the past three years. I'd like to thank my teammates who always treated me like a family and the coaching staff who always helped me become a better player. I'm grateful to the KIA fans for their consistent support, and I'll never forget their love."

"I am glad that my hard work during this season has paid off to achieve the unified Korean championship in 2024. The emotion of victory will remain as an unforgettable memory in my life. I will spend the time of farewell with feelings of trust, gratitude, and joy. I will now move forward with new challenges with confidence that I did well. Thank you all."

KIA officially announced on the 26th that it signed a contract with new foreign batter Patrick Wisdom for a total of $1 million, including a down payment of $200,000 and an annual salary of $800,000. Farewell to Socrates has been confirmed. 

Socrates played in 127 games in the KIA uniform in 2022, recording a .354 on-base percentage with 17 home runs, 77 RBIs, 83 runs, and an OPS.848. Socrates, who re-signed, hit .285 with 20 home runs, 96 RBIs, 91 runs and on-base percentage with .344, a .463 slugging percentage, and an OPS of 0.807 in 142 games last year. His batting average failed, but he played his part in the center batting line with 20 home runs and 96 RBIs. 

Socrates had a poor batting average in the early stages of this season, and was rumored to be kicked out from April to May. However, his batting started to recover from the crisis of replacement in June. Since June, he has rebounded sharply by hitting a monthly batting average of 320 or more. He had a batting average of .359 with 312 homers and 97 RBIs, a slugging percentage of .516 and an OPS of 0.875, in 140 games this year.

In the Korean Series, he played a batting average of .300 (six hits in 20 at-bats), one homer, five RBIs and an OPS of .814 in five games, contributing to Kia's overall win. However, he failed to renew his contract after the season. 

Kia recruited Wizdom, an incumbent big leaguer who hit 20 or more home runs for three consecutive seasons between 2021 and 2023. Kia said it would release the right of withholding for Socrates, who contributed to the team for three years. 

Socrates played for the Kia Tigers for three years, posting a total batting average of .302 (487 hits in 1,613 times at bat) with 63 home runs, 270 RBIs, and 266 runs scored in the OPS. This year was the best in terms of home runs, RBIs and OPS. This is the best record ever for a foreign hitter who failed to renew his contract. 

All 10 teams signed contracts for foreign hitters for next season. If foreign hitters show poor performance or fail to adapt to the KBO League during next season, Socrates can be considered as a substitute.