Mel Rojas Jr. of the KT Wiz takes a swing during a Korea Baseball Organization regular-season game against the Kiwoom Heroes at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, on July 1, 2025, in this photo provided by the Wiz. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, July 3 (Korea Bizwire) — Mel Rojas Jr. of the KT Wiz is now South Korean baseball’s all-time leader in home runs by a foreign player.
Rojas launched his 175th career home run in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) on Thursday. His two-run shot off Kiwoom Heroes starter Jung Hyun-woo helped the Wiz to a 6-2 victory at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, some 30 kilometers south of Seoul.
With the blast that traveled 135 meters, Rojas broke a tie with former OB/Doosan Bears slugger Tyrone Woods to grab the sole possession of the home run lead among foreign-born players.
Woods smacked 174 home runs from 1998 to 2002 in 614 games. Rojas hit his 175th home run in his 731st game.
He began his KBO career as a midseason arrival for the Wiz in 2017. He won the KBO regular-season MVP award in 2020 after setting career highs with 47 home runs and 135 RBIs.
Rojas then left for Japan and rejoined the Wiz before the 2024 season. The switch hitter had 32 homers last year.
So far this season, Rojas has 11 home runs in 76 games. He was demoted to the minors in late June at the tail end of a monthlong slump.
He hit just one home run in June but has now gone deep twice in three games in July.
With nine more home runs, Rojas will become just the third foreign player, after Woods and former SK Wyverns/SSG Landers star Jamie Romak, to reach the 20-homer plateau in five consecutive seasons.
(Yonhap)
