Investing in Themselves: Cole Irvin and Logan Allen’s KBO Experience

Oklahoma City pitchers reflect on 2025 season in Korea

Comets pitcher Cole Irvin on the mound at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark (Ron Lane).

Baseball has always been a game played across the world. That global popularity brings opportunities for players to play the game they loved in cities they would’ve never dreamed of being in at the start of their career.

Both Logan Allen and Cole Irvin have been part of the Oklahoma City Comets rotation this season, joining the team after spending the 2025 campaign in the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO).

This career path has become more common in baseball as a chance for players to showcase their talents with a larger role and free of constant movement up and down from big league rosters stateside.

Irvin and Allen had to adjust to a new culture, language and food last season competing in baseball stadiums more than 6,000 miles away from home — all for the love of the game.

Allen had been put on waivers by the Arizona Diamondbacks to close the 2024 season and had spent prior seasons bouncing between the starting rotation and long-relief option in Triple-A and brief MLB stints with San Diego, Cleveland, Baltimore and Arizona.

“I was in a position where I had played for quite a number of teams, but I’d always been a starter in the Minor Leagues, other than a short stint in Colorado,” Allen said. “I would pitch pretty decent, get called up, and I would be the long guy. I was pretty good at it, because I have a rubber arm. I would throw every day.”

Logan Allen pitching for the OKC Comets (Eddie Kelly).

Following a trade from Philadelphia to Oakland in 2021, Irvin was a consistent member of the Athletics starting rotation, even tying for the American League lead with 32 starts his first season. Through 2024, Irvin made 93 career starts which ended with 16 in his last big-league year split between Baltimore and Minnesota.

Irvin was moved to the bullpen that season and eventually designated for assignment by both teams that year, finding himself in a spot where he was looking to showcase his value.

“Kind of leverage myself as a starter again. Go over there, get some innings and try to sign back with a Major League Club,” Irvin said. “I think that most teams saw me in a hybrid role here. It was not an easy decision by any means. My family and I had some thoughts on it, but we ultimately decided to go there just for the opportunity to come back hopefully stronger, bet on myself type of deal.”

Then 28-years-old and recently married, Allen got a call from the NC Dinos and ended up signing around the start of the new year. Allen had considered the KBO the prior year, even getting an offer from the Kia Tigers, but decided now was the right time with the help of a few connections.

“I had some guys I know well, Eric Fedde, Kyle Hart I played with, and he was over there the year before and just said great things,” Allen said. “I’d heard that their pitching coach was pretty good and I just heard from a pitching standpoint it’s a good team to be with.”

While Allen was headed to Changwon to put on a Dinos uniform, Irvin was off to South Korea’s capital city of Seoul to pitch for the Doosan Bears.

The 31-year-old Irvin knew leaving his family would serve as the move’s biggest challenge.

“Not being able to see my wife, my dad, my mom, and brother that was tough to not be able to see them like I do in other seasons because they’re a big part of just my everyday,” Irvin said. “My animals, my horses and dogs too. I’m a family man and that was the toughest part.”

Cole Irvin chatting with catcher Chuckie Robinson during a mound visit (Ron Lane).

Allen was lucky to experience a smooth transition as the Scottsdale, Ariz., resident took a short trip to Tucson for Dinos Spring Training, although he had to adjust to an early report time.

“I could still go home and enjoy some family time before I left, but it was different starting Spring Training January 23rd. That was an eye opener for me,” Allen said. “I wasn’t as ready for spring as all their players were. They were ready to go and I’m still a little ways off and feeling good about being built up.”

Once making the trip overseas, both players had to adjust to new cultures, language and food.

Allen was hesitant about having a translator at first but ended up loving the experience.

“I was like, ‘oh, this is going to be different,’ but it was a great experience,” Allen said.

Irvin enjoyed the shared aspects of Korean culture as the self-proclaimed “country boy” looked for other outlets to take his mind off the game.

“The culture was very communal and I did appreciate that,” Irvin said. “They’re very welcoming with FCA Korea. Fellowship of Christian Athletes Korea was fantastic welcoming me in and sharing meals together on top of the orphanage that I was working with out there. My translators and everyone were so welcoming and helpful through some tough times that I had out there.”

Discovering new foods also became part of the year.

Allen left the year with a long list of his favorite bites, highlighted by the barbecue and fruit.

“I can go on for days,” he said. “The Korean barbecue was unbelievable, the freshest meat. It was unbelievably cheap. It was unbelievable red meat, and it was incredible. It’s the best fruit you’ll ever have in your life, the strawberries and everything was incredible.”

Logan Allen with Comets pitching coach David Anderson and catcher Chuckie Robinson during a visit (Eddie Kelly).

Once leaving Korea, Allen found himself missing many Korean food options.

“Even the healthiest and most organic places to get fruit here are just not the same,” Allen said. “I even hit up a lot of guys that used to play there, Casey Kelly’s like my family still talks about wanting the fruit. I tried Soju for the first time out there, so that was interesting, their version of sake. The closest I’ve ever had to the ramen I had there is actually a place in OKC, from 2023 that I was taken to by a teammate. I eat there probably three times a week now, the food was incredible.”

Irvin saw himself appreciative of the Korean dining experience.

“I had this crab dish that was really good, it was kind of like a king’s table type of thing which is very tough to describe, but it’s like a 12-course meal,” Irvin said. “There’s versions of it that bring everything out on one platter and it’s shareables. That was one thing I really liked about Korea was just when you’re at a setting for eating or dining, it’s communal. You’re engaged. You’re cooking with each other. You’re having conversation. You’re drinking sumac, which is soju and beer or like a rice liquor in Korea. It’s a lot of fun and it’s unique.”

Traveling around an unfamiliar country made for some unique road destinations. The pitchers grew to love other Korean cities aside from the one in which they played their home games.

Allen was drawn to the two largest cities of Korea: Seoul and Busan.

“Seoul is like New York, if New York was bigger and cleaner and safer. It’s unbelievable. Busan is like the L.A. of Korea,” Allen said. “The beach area, it was only about 45 minutes from our home city in Masan, Changwon. I would go there on off days and go to the beach.”

Having already played his home games in Seoul, Irvin found himself comfortable during trips to Hanwan.

“I really liked that town,” he said. “I had a little coffee shop that I’d go read my Bible at and they got to know me a little bit over there. There was this Korean barbecue spot where we first got to town that I’d just go and have my Korean barbecue over there. I was able to walk and kind of do my thing. There’s something about Hanwan that I really enjoyed.”

On the field, both pitchers experienced the largest workload they had played in years.

Allen appeared in 32 games, starting in all but one of them for the Dinos.

Finishing 7–12 with a 4.53 ERA, Allen set a career-high in starts as he opened a game more that season than the prior two seasons combined.

“It was the first year where I really struggled with a little bit of velocity drop, and some arm fatigue from trying to build up really fast,” Allen said. “As far as arsenal, everything kind of stayed the same. It was there that made me realize that there’s some things I can do when I come back both from a physicality standpoint, but also pitch design stuff.”

Allen closed the year with 149 strikeouts across his 173 innings of work.

Despite the joy all pitchers feel in striking batters out, Allen realized he needed to pitch to contact to achieve more success with Oklahoma City in 2026.

“It was more so just teaching me a little bit better how to navigate the lineups that don’t punch out a lot,” Allen said. “Which is part of the reason why early in the season, minus the walks, I haven’t had too many strikeouts. I’m trying to just go after guys, getting them to put the ball in play.”

Irvin started in all 28 games he appeared in for Doosan, ending the season with an 8–12 record and 4.48 ERA.

He struggled with commanding his fastball, surrendering a league-leading 79 walks and 18 hit batters in 144.2 innings, which he’s been able to learn from in Oklahoma City.

“My four-seam was hoppier, so it was harder to keep that in the zone,” Irvin said. “When I got back here [to the U.S.] and started throwing the big-league baseball again, me, my pitching coaches and my bullpen catchers, were not surprised that it seems like I’m throwing more strikes with the fastball.”

His experience in Korea has helped him become a better teammate, learning to better relate to players experiencing difficult moments.

“Some teammates that find themselves, isolated or find themselves in tough times, I can relate to teammates better for that,” Irvin said. “I can have those conversations that are extremely tough because I had never been there before, but now that I’ve been through it and challenged. Being able to relate to teammates a little bit better has been very helpful for this season.”

Cole Irvin walking off the mound with catcher Chuckie Robinson (Cody Roper).

Irvin learned he can fight through self-doubt and take on a lot more than he expected of himself.

“I think Kobe Bryant, I heard him in an interview when I was on YouTube in the last week or so and found something of his,” Irvin said. “It was talking about whether you win or lose, those are the only two outcomes, so why are you doubting your abilities and why are you doubting yourself.”

The season became a learning experience, not just in building up workload but attacking a different type of hitter.

Both players noticed hitters in the U.S. chase out of the zone more than overseas, leading to its own unique set of challenges in facing those bats.

Allen had to adjust and find ways to generate quicker at-bats if he wanted to work deep into ballgames.

“I gave up a lot of hits from ground balls, through the hole, bloopers they just didn’t go down without a fight,” Allen said. “It taught me a little bit about trying to get guys out in three pitches or less, to be efficient. But it also taught me that if I’m gonna have to have compete like this, I had to throw 120 pitches sometimes.”

Logan Allen and Chuckie Robinson walking back to the OKC dugout (Eddie Kelly).

Irvin struggled with those lineups, but found he was throwing more strikes this season after working with baseballs he was more comfortable with.

“Guys don’t really swing as aggressively as they do here and so there was a big difference in that as well,” Irvin said. “The arsenal didn’t really change; it just got more in the zone once I got back to a ball I was comfortable with.”

Through the good and tough times in Korea, both players were able to learn lessons from the season abroad that will stick for the rest of their respective careers and lives.

Back in a starting rotation, Allen gained confidence he could bring what he learned back stateside.

“I made 33 starts, threw almost 200 innings, it was a lot,” Allen said. “I learned that I still could pitch in the big leagues at a high level, regardless of what it looks like so far in the season. When I came home, I was hungry for American baseball again. I loved it. It was a pretty good experience I’ll remember forever. Korea is incredible.”

Irvin gained a mentality that getting to play baseball every day is a gift. He’s been able to play the game like he’s a kid again and has been having more fun than ever on the mound.

“If you’ve been to our games and you’ve seen me pitch, you see me talking to our infielders and having a good time and talking with guys and just telling them great job, great play,” Irvin said. “I think if anyone is looking to watch baseball in an amazing environment, go to Korea for a week. Seoul is a great city. You get to live downtown and see a lot; it’s a destination for any baseball fan for sure.”