Somewhere between the Blue Jays' Triple-A Buffalo affiliate and a start for Round Rock, Austin Voth's 2026 season turned into one of the more chaotic journeyman tours in recent memory. Toronto, Minnesota, Texas — all in a span of months, all minor league deals, all going nowhere fast. Now his path has taken its strangest turn yet: he's pitching in South Korea.
MLB Trade Rumors broke the news that the KBO's Samsung Lions had signed the well-traveled righty.
The move makes sense once you look at how Voth's year actually went. He signed with the Blue Jays in late March, got a brief big-league look in early April, got lit up in relief against Baltimore in late May, and was designated for assignment days later. He cleared waivers, signed with the Twins, then signed with the Rangers in early July — only to request and receive his release after a single Triple-A start, reportedly with interest from a foreign league already brewing.
That interest turned out to be Samsung Lions, currently sitting atop the KBO standings, who reportedly brought Voth in as a short-term fill-in for an injured starter rather than a long-term piece. It's a shrewd, low-cost swing for a first-place club that just wants innings covered without disrupting anything.
For Voth, it's also not his first rodeo overseas — he spent last season in Japan with the Chiba Lotte Marines before circling back to affiliated ball stateside for another go-round. Bouncing from NPB to a fourth organization in four months back home and now to the KBO says less about Voth's talent and more about just how thin the margins are for a 34-year-old journeyman arm trying to hang on anywhere in pro baseball.
Either way, the Voth sweepstakes are officially over for MLB clubs. No waiver claim, no bullpen need is pulling him back stateside anytime soon — he's a Samsung Lion now, chasing a KBO title instead of a 40-man spot.