By Rob Rains
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – There were many nights over the last couple of seasons when Won-Bin Cho found himself struggling to go to sleep.
What kept him awake for hours was one recurring thought: “I was thinking tomorrow might be my last day in professional baseball,” Cho said.
The first amateur free agent signed by the Cardinals out of South Korea in 2022, when he was 18, Cho was questioning his own performance and he knew the organization had to be wondering about his future as well.
It didn’t get any easier when Cho finally got out of bed in the morning. He didn’t want to quit. He didn’t want to go home to South Korea. But he didn’t know what to do.
“I was kind of scared,” Cho said. “I was worried about the future. Some days I didn’t want to go to the field. I really didn’t want to play.
“I had been in Peoria for two years. I knew if I was not performing, they were not going to keep me in high A for like 10 years.”
That tap on Cho’s shoulder, with the news that the manager wanted to see him – a conversation that often brings bad news – never happened.
When Peoria manager Roberto Espinosa did call Cho into his office in June, it was to give him the happy news that after playing 253 games with the Peoria Chiefs, Cho was being promoted to Double A Springfield.
There was no dramatic moment, or a specific game, when things began to turn around for Cho. The change was a result of him changing his mindset.
“The biggest problem for me, in my opinion, was I could get very hot but when I wasn’t doing well I was very cold,” Cho said. “How can I be more consistent? What I thought about was sticking to my routine, having the same focus every day. Tomorrow was a new day but the same thing, with the same thoughts, same focus, every day.
“I’m the only one who has to prove I want to go to a higher level, or go home. I just tried my best every day. I wasn’t sticking with my routine even if I wasn’t doing well. I needed to push myself harder. Sometimes I was over-thinking things. I tried not to worry about anything, just try to do my best at that moment every single time.”
Matt Slater was a special assistant to the Cardinals’ John Mozeliak when the organization signed Cho and he has remained in close touch with him, even after Slater left the organization. He is now an international scouting executive with the Yankees.
“It got to the point where he was tilting on losing prospect status,” Slater said. “He put his mind to it … Won-Bin is a resilient young man.”
In Cho’s first spring training with the Cardinals, Slater watched and made the correct prediction that Cho’s development was going to take time.
“This is going to take three, four or five years for him to become what we think he can become,” Slater said in March of 2022. “Our scouts really believed in him. Moises (Rodriguez) believed in him. I believed in him. We’re going to see where this goes.”
Back then, in that first spring training, Cho was wondering where his career would go as well.
“I shouldn’t have come here”
The 18-year-old Cho was half a world away from home that first spring. He didn’t speak or understand English, and the cultural adjustments he was facing were only part of the challenges he encountered on a daily basis.
There were times, Cho admits now, that he wondered if pulling himself out of the Korean Baseball Organization draft and moving to the U.S. had been a mistake.
“I was hitting in batting practice with my teammates and they were so much stronger and faster, and way better than me,” Cho said. “I was like, ‘I shouldn’t have come here. They are really good. I need to work harder if I want to be a starting player.’ I didn’t think it was going to be this hard.”
Off the field, Cho’s life also was difficult. He wasn’t able to communicate well with his teammates or coaches, and when he wanted to go out, he had to go with his interpreter. It was a lonely time in his life.
“He left his family in Korea to live in the U.S. during Covid in order to be seen by major-league teams,” Slater said. “The way he signed showed he would have this toughness.
“The most challenging part for him was going to be the level of pitching he was facing. He wasn’t used to that quality. Baseball is a faster game in the U.S. It’s more intense, with better pitching and more velocity. It definitely took him some time.”
Cho spent his first pro season in the rookie Florida Complex League, then moved up to low Class A Palm Beach in 2023. He was one of the youngest players on the roster and hit a respectable .270 with seven homers and a team-leading 32 stolen bases.
The future looked promising.
Cho was promoted to Peoria in 2024 and did not have a good season, hitting just .227 with only 13 stolen bases and 134 strikeouts in 374 at-bats.
“There were some times where it just looked like he was lost in all aspects,” said Patrick Anderson, the Peoria manager in 2024 and now the manager in Springfield.
“Baseball in the minor leagues is really hard. He had so many obstacles and so many variables. He was fighting a lot of things.”
One of those things, which Cho didn’t realize at the time was causing some of his problems, was his eyesight.
“I was struggling to see the ball at night,” Cho said. “On defense I lost so many balls in the air. I knew I had to do something.”
Cho, who had never worn glasses, got contact lenses after the season was over and he believes that has made a big difference in his game.
What also has made a difference was learning English, and being able to have better communication with his teammates, on and off the field. In addition to the help with the language he received from his teammates, Cho also studied English by watching videos on YouTube and by watching movies.
One of his teammates who helped him was Travis Honeyman, who has become Cho’s best friend.
“It’s like he spent three years at a university”
Honeyman was the Cardinals’ pick in the third round of the 2023 draft out of Boston College. At the time, he was out with a shoulder injury and was rehabbing in Jupiter when he first met Cho in the training room.
“We talked a little bit, but the next spring was when we started to become close,” Honeyman said. “We had similar interests; we liked doing the same things.”
The two became roommates in Peoria last season and Honeyman still marvels at the challenges Cho has had to face since he moved to the U.S., both in baseball and just in his life in general.
“If you took me in my senior year in high school and just dropped me off in Korea and told me to go figure it out … it would take me a little longer, than two or three years,” Honeyman said.
“It’s like he’s spent three years at a university. He’s learned how to be a good teammate and a good guy. He’s one of the boys. He’s my brother.”
Honeyman invited Cho to spend Christmas with his family at their home on Long Island, an experience that Cho said he really enjoyed.
What Honeyman said Cho enjoyed the most was going to Honeyman’s grandmother’s house for dinner.
“She is Italian and she makes really good food and they were just feeding him plates all day,” Honeyman said.
Cho, who has added 30 pounds of muscle to his 6-foot-2 frame since he first moved to the U.S., jokes that he is not a picky eater.
“I’m surprised when we go out sometimes that he doesn’t eat the plate,” Honeyman said. “He eats more than anyone I’ve ever met in my life.”
Honeyman began this season at Springfield and he said he knew Cho was being promoted before Cho did.
Having been well aware of his struggles the last few seasons made Honeyman even happier at the news that he was getting his roommate back.
“The talent that he is showing this year, he’s always had it,” Honeyman said. “I would always tell him, ‘Cho you’ve got a gift and it will show soon, and this year he’s having a breakout year. I’ve always known he could do this. He’s hit some incredible home runs this year.
“As a human, he’s just a really good friend. When he meets somebody he is always looking to try to gain something from them, how do they do something. He’s always open to learning.
“Every game I am rooting for him to do well, just as much as I want to do well.”
Regaining his prospect status
After hitting eight home runs, while posting a .269 average in 56 games at Peoria, Cho’s promotion to Springfield prompted a power surge. He hit nine homers in his first 12 games in Double A.
The combined 17 homers in 253 at-bats this season equals the total number of homers Cho had hit in his career prior to this year, in a total of 1,157 at-bats.
He is one of only two players in the Cardinals’ minor-league system with 17 or more homers and 15 or more stolen bases this season. The other is Joshua Baez.
In many ways, Cho is following in the footsteps of Baez, who also went through struggles early in his career before finally becoming a much better offensive player last season.
Baez also lost his status as a top prospect, then got it back. Cho is doing the same thing, a month before his 23rd birthday.
It’s come at the right time for Cho, who must be added to the Cardinals’ 40-man roster this winter or else be made available to other organizations in the Rule 5 draft.
“The hitting department did a great job of really being patient with this young man and working with him,” Anderson said. “I’ve just been really impressed how he has come up here and followed his plan and routine. It’s been fun to watch him.
“He’s come a long way. It’s a tribute to his hard work and dedication. He just has to stay consistent with regards to his plan. He’s really working hard.”
Added Slater, “I’ve said before, it takes an Army to sign these players and having the support system is so important. The future is very bright for him.”
The success that Cho has had this season has brought more smiles to his face. His confidence is back and he is not consumed with worries about his future. Playing the game has become fun again.
“I’m just enjoying every single moment,” Cho said. “I’m happy to be here. I’m very blessed to be here.
“I know I am a good player. I have to trust myself and push myself harder. There are still a lot of things I need to work on. I am just trying to get better every day.”
From their home in Korea, Cho’s parents watch every one of his games that they can on the internet, often either late at night or early in the morning depending on the time of the game. Korea is 13 hours ahead of the U.S. central time zone.
But in August, for the first time since Cho moved away from Korea, his parents plan to come to the states. He has gone back home for a visit after every season, and talks often with his parents on the phone, but having them watch him play in person is something Cho definitely is excited about.
Cho still admits that even now, there are nights when he has trouble sleeping – but it’s not for the same reason as when he was worried that he was on the verge of being released.
“When I get excited or nervous I have trouble (sleeping),” he said. “But I am less worried about my future.
“Now I know what type of player I am and what I am good at. I know what I have to do.”
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Photos by PJ Maigi, courtesy of the Springfield Cardinals
