Five years ago, Wes Benjamin was trying to establish himself in the Texas Rangers’ starting rotation. Last season, he had another go at making it in America, yet was back in Triple-A with an ERA above 6.00. Now 33 years old and having returned to South Korea for a second stint, the good news is that Benjamin is producing the best baseball of his career.
Benjamin currently owns a 2.53 ERA through 19 starts for the Doosan Bears, second-best among all KBO pitchers with at least 96 innings pitched. Only Doosan teammate Gwak Been, at 2.36, ranks ahead of him. Benjamin has pitched 106.2 innings, allowing 99 hits, 30 earned runs and only five home runs, alongside 108 strikeouts and 28 walks. His WHIP stands at a very healthy 1.19.
Benjamin’s 5-7 win-loss record does not do justice to how well he has pitched. He has recorded 10 quality starts in 19 appearances and has allowed only 0.42 home runs per nine innings, striking out nearly four batters for every one he has walked, and only Been has a lower ERA. It is a significant turnaround for a pitcher whose career appeared to be moving in the opposite direction only a year ago, when he tried to make the majors one final time.
Benjamin’s Rangers Career
The Rangers selected Benjamin in the fifth round of the 2014 MLB Draft out of the University of Kansas. A left-hander who had previously been drafted by the New York Yankees out of high school, he spent six years climbing through Texas’s farm system before finally reaching the majors during the shortened 2020 season.
Benjamin made eight appearances for Texas that year, including one start, and returned in 2021 after making the Rangers’ Opening Day roster. He ultimately appeared 21 times in the majors across the two seasons, making three starts and finishing 2-3 with a 6.80 ERA. In 45 innings, he allowed 53 hits, 34 earned runs and 16 walks while striking out 40. That, however, was the extent of his MLB career.
After leaving Texas, Benjamin joined the Chicago White Sox organization for the 2022 season and pitched for Triple-A Charlotte. He was performing reasonably well there, posting a 3.82 ERA with 32 strikeouts in 30⅔ innings, but he was released by the White Sox in May, whereupon he signed with the KT Wiz of the KBO League. Happily howeverm Korea proved to be an excellent decision almost immediately.
Benjamin debuted for KT in June 2022 and went 5-4 with a 2.70 ERA in 17 starts. He allowed only 75 hits in 96.2 innings, producing a 1.02 WHIP, and the performance earned him another contract for 2023. Given a full season in the rotation the following years, he became one of the KBO’s leading pitchers; Benjamin went 15-6 with a 3.54 ERA across 160 innings that year. His 15 victories ranked second in the league and equaled the KT franchise record, while his 157 strikeouts ranked fourth. The Wiz went on to reach the Korean Series.
Second Continent, Second Chance
Benjamin remained with KT in 2024, although his results became more uneven. His ERA climbed to 4.63 and he surrendered 28 home runs in 149.2 innings, albeit while still winning 11 games and striking out 156. He saved one of his best performances for the postseason, throwing seven scoreless innings against Doosan in the Wild Card series. KT nevertheless elected not to retain him after the season.
A return to American baseball followed, but not a return to the majors. Benjamin spent 2025 with the San Diego Padres’ Triple-A affiliate in El Paso with a view to earning another call-up, but struggled badly in the Pacific Coast League, going 4-8 with a 6.42 ERA over 108 innings, allowing 131 hits and 94 runs. His strikeout rate also dropped significantly, from 9.4 per nine innings during his final KT season to 7.3.
Even his route back to Korea was initially supposed to be temporary. Doosan initially signed Benjamin in April as a six-week injury replacement for former MLB starter Chris Flexen, agreeing to a $50,000 contract. The Bears knew what they were getting, or at least could be fairly sure, given his previous KBO work; what they could not necessarily have expected was for him to return pitching better than he had before.
Benjamin has reduced his ERA by more than two full runs from his final season with KT and by almost four runs from his 2025 Triple-A campaign. And particularly important has been the fixing of the home-run problem. After allowing 28 in 149⅔ innings for KT in 2024 and another 16 in 108 innings at El Paso, Benjamin has surrendered only five this year.
He has also been remarkably consistent lately. Benjamin allowed one earned run in five innings against NC on 18 August, one in five against Hanwha six days earlier, and threw six scoreless innings against SSG on 28 July. Over his seven most recent starts, he has allowed only eight earned runs across 38⅓ innings, a 1.88 ERA, with 50 strikeouts and only seven walks.
Benjamin’s first spell in Korea had already turned him from a fringe major leaguer into a dependable starting pitcher. His second has gone further. A pitcher who had a 6.80 ERA with the Rangers and a 6.42 ERA in Triple-A only last season now is among the very best in one of the world’s leading baseball nations. Sometimes, you have to go backwards to go forwards.
Former Rangers Prospect Becomes One of the Best Players in Korea