Deok-ju Ham

Deok-ju Ham (함덕주)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 11", Weight 172 lb.

• High School Wonju High School

• Born January 13, 1995 in Wonju South Korea

BR register page

Biographical Information

Deok-ju Ham has pitched in the Korea Baseball Organization and for the South Korean national team.

Ham was taken by the Doosan Bears in the 5th round of the 2013 KBO draft. He allowed six hits, two walks and five runs in 1 1/3 IP as a rookie in the 2013 KBO. He improved to 1-0, 4.44 in 31 games in 2014 and 7-2, 3.65 with two saves and 76 K in 61 2/3 IP (but with 44 BB) in 2015. He was 10th in the league in games pitched and was 5th with 16 holds (between Kil-hyun Yoon and Jung-jin Park). In Game One of the 2015 Korean Series, he allowed a 3-run homer to Yamaico Navarro in a 9-8 Bears loss but they came back to win the Series.

In the 2016 KBO, the lefty struggled (6.23 ERA in 15 G, 11 BB in 8 2/3 IP) but Doosan defended their Korean Series title. He moved to the rotation for much of 2017 and fared well at 9-8, 3.67 with 139 K in 137 1/3 IP though wildness remained an issue (64 BB). Had he qualified, he would have been 8th in the KBO in ERA. He did finish 9th in strikeouts (between Pat Dean and Andy Van Hekken; the only Korean natives with more were MVP Hyeon-jong Yang and Woo-chan Cha. He was 3rd in walks, though, behind Dustin Nippert and Hyun-sik Jang. He did well in relief in Game 1 of the 2017 Korean Series but allowed the only run in a Game 2 loss to the KIA Tigers and allowed inherited runners to score in games 4 and 5 as Doosan went down.

Back in the bullpen in 2018, he was 6-3 with 27 saves and a 2.96 ERA, with the usual high K and BB totals (75 K, 37 BB in 67 IP). He tied Chan-heon Jeong for 3rd in the league in saves. He saved Josh Lindblom's win in Game 4 of the 2018 Korean Series but Doosan fell to the SK Wyverns in six. He also pitched for South Korea in the 2018 Asian Games, helping them win the Gold and getting him an exemption from the mandatory military service for South Koreans. He pitched three times, tying Chi-guk Park for the team lead. Against Taiwan, he relieved Park in the 8th and struck out two of three batters in a perfect inning. Versus Hong Kong, he took over for Pil-joon Jang and allowed one hit in a shutout 7th before Chi-guk Park took over. Finally, against Japan, he allowed one hit in two shutout innings to close it out, fanning four; he relieved Chung-yeon Choi in that one. He was 3rd in the Games in ERA behind two pitchers with more innings and also a 0.00 (Japan's Yuichiro Okano and Yudai Aranishi).