LG Twins sign former Toronto Blue Jays right-handed pitcher

The LG Twins of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) announced a trio of moves involving foreign-born players on Saturday.

First baseman Austin Dean, right-handers Yonny Chirinos and Anders Tolhurst were all signed to new contracts for the 2026 season, allowing the Twins to keep all three of their foreign-born players on the roster for next season.

Of the three Dean earns the largest contract, getting $1.4MM in guaranteed money, with another $300K in incentives. Chirinos receives $1.2M, $300K of which is a signing bonus, along with $900K guaranteed salary and other $200K in incentives. Tolhurst's contract comes in at roughly $1M.

Both Dean and Chirinos have MLB experience and both made their debuts in 2018 for the Miami Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays respectively.

While Tolhurst doesn't have any major league experience, he did reach as Triple-A, where he posted a 4.67 ERA in 71 1/3 innings for the Buffalo Bisons, the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Tolhurst was initially a 23rd round pick by the Blue Jays back in 2019. While he showed some promise developmentally, including a couple of strong showings during the Spring, he was further down on the Blue Jays depth chart and seemingly didn't have a place on the roster.

Toronto released him on August 3rd and he signed with the Twins later that same day.

After making his debut on August 12th, he ended up pitching to a 6-2 record with a 2.86 ERA and 45 strikeouts. He also pitched in the Korean World Series, winning games 1 and 5, helping the Twins become league champions.