Blue Jays: Deck McGuire tosses no-hitter in Korea

Former top prospect Deck McGuire pitched a no-hitter for his team, the Samsung Lions, striking out 13, a Korean Baseball Organization record.

Former Blue Jays first round pick Deck McGuire, who recently signed on with the Samsung Lions of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO), pitched a no-hitter Saturday against the Hanwha Eagles.

In a crushing 16-0 victory, McGuire, who turns 30 in June, struck out 13 while walking and hitting a batter in just the 14th no-hitter in KBO history. According to the Yonhap News Agency, McGuire’s 13 strikeouts are the most in a KBO no-hitter.

McGuire also struck out the side in the ninth as his team, the now 10-15 Lions, rallied for a whopping 23 hits, including a seven-run fourth and a five-run fifth.

A native of Richmond, Virginia, McGuire spent parts of three seasons in the Blue Jays farm system before being traded to Oakland in 2014.

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He then signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers and proceeded to bounce around to the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds organizations before rejoining the Blue Jays in 2018.

After a brief stint with the big club in Toronto, McGuire was designated for assignment and logged some innings with the minor-league affiliates of the Los Angeles Angels and Texas Rangers.

All in all, he’s racked up 923 strikeouts in 1079.2 minor-league innings, pitching to an ERA of 4.31, while only appearing in 27 games (51.2 IP) at the game’s highest level, striking out 44 and walking 28 in six starts.

Prior to his no-hitter, the Georgia Tech product had pitched to an ERA of 6.56 in 23.1 frames for the Lions, striking out 18 and walking 18.

Other former major leaguers on the Lions roster include Darin Ruf (PHI, 2012-2016) and Justin Haley (BOS, 2018, MIN, 2017), while former White Sox and Indians outfielder Jerry Sands is fifth in the league in batting average.