Sports-starved fans who wake up early can turn on the Worldwide Leader and see live baseball as ESPN airs the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) games each morning.
 
Panther fans, take note, because you can watch one of your own as former Georgia State and Major League hurler David Buchanan now pitches for the Samsung Lions in the KBO.
 
Buchanan, who pitched for Georgia State in 2010, attended Fayette County High School just south of Atlanta but now calls Daegu, South Korea home.
 
While the KBO has become familiar as the only professional baseball league that is currently active, Buchanan is actually in his fourth year in Asia after three seasons (2017-19) pitching for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan.
 
"Japan was phenomenal. We lived in downtown Tokyo, which was super nice, very upscale," he said. "My wife and I loved it. We had our son there, and his first year of life was in Tokyo. The kid is definitely well-traveled because now his second year is in Korea."
 
Buchanan's experience in Japan has helped with his adjustment to KBO.
 
"The language is completely different, but the Asian culture is somewhat similar," Buchanan explained. "I love it."
 
"Being here in Korea, I've had a great time so far," he continued. "My teammates are phenomenal, and the coaching staff is great. Our facility is absolutely gorgeous. It's only three years old.
 
"I don't have social media, but my wife does. She kinda takes all the heat for me, but she has gotten numerous messages from fans of the Lions who reached out to offer her any help she might need and answer questions. A lot of the questions and comments she gets are in broken English, so it's really sweet to see the effort that people go to just to lend a helping hand."


 
Although the KBO is being played without fans for now, Buchanan has developed an appreciation for the atmosphere in which baseball in Asia is typically played.
 
"It's definitely a little more rah-rah and high energy," he explained. "Honestly, when I first got here, it kind of took me back to Little League and high school ball. It's super competitive, but it's still a game. There's trumpets and drums and people singing, and all the chants for different players and different songs for when we score runs. It was such a fun environment, it made it fun to play.
 
"It's almost like a playoff atmosphere on a Wednesday night in July. It's what you live for."
 
And the bat flips.
 
"It's not out of disrespect or trying to show off," Buchanan said. "Guy will hit a pop fly to second base or a ground ball to the three-hole, and they will flick their bat like they hit a 700-foot home run. It's kind of entertaining sometimes."
 
Of course, Buchanan and his teammates are working with numerous safety precautions.
 
"Not just the in KBO but Korea in general, the guidelines, the restrictions, the rules are very specific, but they are followed, and I think that's why they have been successful. People obey the rules.
 
"Every day when you get to the stadium, you have to have your mask on," he explained. "You take your temperature. And then when you leave, they give you a fresh mask. That's just a daily routine. Even in our cafeteria, there are clear plastic dividers, like quadrants, to eat lunch. They take a lot of precautions to keep everything as clean as possible."
 
He added, "I'm excited for when we can get fans in here. It's a little weird pitching in dead silence right now. But with the position that the world is in right now, the fact that we're able to play is a blessing in itself."
 
Coming out of Georgia State, Buchanan was drafted in the seventh round of the 2010 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by Philadelphia Phillies organization.
 
On May 24, 2014, he made his debut for the Phillies to become Georgia State's first Major Leaguer. After being called up from Triple-A Lehigh Valley, he started against the Dodgers at Citizens Bank Park.


 
"When I sat on the bench before I took the field for the anthem, it came on like a freight train," Buchanan recalled. "It was a feeling that I can't even describe."
 
After that, he admits it was a bit of a blur.
 
"I remember my first pitch was a ball, and my first out was a ground ball to third base," Buchanan recounted. "I remember I broke (Yasiel) Puig's bat, on a ground ball to shortstop. I remember I struck out (Justin) Turner on a high change-up that I got really lucky on with a runner in scoring position. I gave up two runs; I don't remember how they scored but we ended up getting the win that day."


 
Buchanan said that he had a similar experience, perhaps even more so, when he pitched in his hometown as a Major Leaguer for the first time. That start, on Sept. 3, 2014, against the Atlanta Braves was, of course, at then-Turner Field, now Georgia State Stadium.
 
"The feeling of playing at Turner Field was the same, if not more," he said. "Walking onto the field and just looking up in the stands and looking at all the seats ... I sat there, I sat there.
 
"I caught a home run ball from (Jeff) Francouer in BP. I walked the field when I was in Little League. Now I'm here in uniform and guys I went to high school and college with are in the stands, calling my name. It was just so surreal. I didn't have the best outing when I pitched there, but the fact that I was pitching on that mound, it was so cool."
 
Buchanan appreciates his incredible baseball journey.
 
"The game of baseball has brought me all over the world," he said. "It's crazy to think this kid from Fayette County is now playing the game in South Korea. You never know where the future is going to take you."