Rick VandenHurk signs with Samsung Lions

Dutch right-hander Rick VandenHurk has signed a one-year, $250k contract with the Samsung Lions of the Korean Baseball Organization, the team has announced (link in Korean).

VandenHurk, 27, was granted his outright release by the Pittsburgh Pirates earlier this week so that he could sign with an international club. At the time of his release it was unknown whether he planned to play in Korea, Japan, or elsewhere.

The tall right-hander never had much success at the big-league level, managing only 29⅓ innings over the last three seasons. VandenHurk has thrown 183⅔ MLB innings across parts of six seasons, but has a career 6.08 ERA and 4.7 BB/9 rate to show for it.

VandenHurk has always had the ability to miss bats -- striking out 8.8 batters per nine in his MLB time -- but has never been able to avoid the walk or the long ball.

He joins fellow 2012 MLBer and right-hander Aneury Rodriguez on the Samsung squad.