Dodgers lose carousel pitcher responsible for one of LA’s worst losses in 2025 to KBO

Right-hander Matt Sauer, whose big-league stint with the Los Angeles Dodgers was as chaotic as it was short, has signed a one-year, $950,000 contract with the KT Wiz of the KBO League in South Korea.

It’s a fresh start for a 26-year-old former New York Yankees prospect who never quite found his footing in MLB — and perhaps a merciful ending to a brief Dodgers tenure that fans won’t soon forget.

KT Wiz general manager Na Do-hyun said in a statement that Sauer is expected to "anchor the rotation with his strong fastball and diverse pitches" –– something that Dodgers fans will find unfathomable, considering Sauer's name will forever be tied to one of the ugliest moments of their 2025 season.

Former Dodgers right-hander Matt Sauer gets much-needed fresh start in KBO after disastrous 2025 campaign

Sauer's defining moment with Los Angeles came on June 10 against the San Diego Padres — when an injury-ravaged Dodgers rotation forced him into a spot start with no long-relief safety net — went on to throw 111 pitches across 4 2/3 innings, surrendering nine earned runs on 13 hits. The outing ballooned his ERA and became emblematic of a nightmare stretch when Los Angeles was desperately piecing together innings amid a wave of injuries.

While Sauer’s overall line with the Dodgers — 6.37 ERA across 29 2/3 innings — never recovered, his effort that day also symbolized something deeper: a player hung out to dry in an impossible situation. The Dodgers’ front office later designated him for assignment, and though he briefly returned on a minor-league deal, the writing was on the wall. He was officially released last week in the Dodgers' first known move of the offseason, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com.

Now, Sauer heads to Korea for a chance to rebuild his career and rewrite his narrative. For Dodgers fans, his departure feels less like a loss and more like a closing of a difficult chapter — a reminder of how deep the 2025 pitching crisis cut and how even the best-run clubs can find themselves scrambling for arms in key moments.