Dong-soo Kim

Dong-soo Kim (김동수)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 187 lb.

• School Hanyang University
• High School Seoul High School

• Born October 27, 1968 in Seoul South Korea

BR register page

Biographical Information

Dong-soo Kim played 20 seasons in the Korea Baseball Organization. Kim won 7 Gold Gloves at catcher, the record through 2009. The Gold Glove in South Korea goes to the best overall player by position, not to the best defender as in the US or Japan.

Kim played for South Korea in the 1987 Intercontinental Cup, 1988 Baseball World Cup (.259/.313/.259, 5 R in 10 G; Opp SB 5-8; no errors in 42 chances), 1988 Olympics, 1989 Intercontinental Cup and 1989 Asian Championship. He debuted as a pro in 1990 with the LG Twins, hitting .290/.379/.463 and placing 7th in the KBO with 62 RBI. He won his first Gold Glove and also picked up Rookie of the Year honors. He hit the homer that clinched the regular season pennant for the Twins. He played on his first Korean Series winner as well.

In 1991, Kim had a sophomore slump, only batting .196/.288/.310, but he bounced back in 1992, with a .257/.343/.475 line and 20 home runs. In 1993, he hit .274/.351/.462 and was 4th in the league with 16 homers. He won his second Gold Glove that season.

Kim only hit 8 home runs in 1994, batting .288/.381/.427 overall as his OPS only fell 5 points. He won his third Gold Glove and helped the Twins win the Korean Series. In 1995, the Twins backstop hit .260/.343/.407 and took home his 4th Gold Glove. The next year, Kim fell to .245/.330/.388.

The Hanyang University alumnus produced at a .236/.335/.431 line in 1997, hit 17 home runs and won his 5th Gold Glove. In 1998, Kim batted .284/.362/.510 with 28 doubles and 20 homers but he lost Gold Glove honors to Kyung-wan Park, whose OPS was around 85 points lower.

Kim had his best year in terms of OPS in 1999, hitting .287/.376/.503 and homering 16 times. He won his 6th Gold Glove, breaking Man-soo Lee's record for catchers in the KBO. He played in the 1999 Asian Championship, when South Korea won Gold. In the 2000 season, Kim moved to the Samsung Lions (in a trade for Sang-yeop Kim) and batted .205/.319/.425. During 2001, Dong-soo hit .276/.360/.420 as the back-up to Kab-yong Jin.

Switching teams again, Kim joined the SK Wyverns for 2002 and hit .243/.323/.430. After this one-year stint, he played for the Hyundai Unicorns in 2003 and batted .308/.390/.485 to finish 10th in the KBO in average as he set a career high in that category. He won his 7th and final Gold Glove and was on his third Korean Series champion.

In 2004, the 35-year-old hit .251/.342/.318 with 2 homers, the lowest point of his career but Hyundai won the Korean Series. Kim slumped to .219/.283/.358 with 10 HR in 274 AB. In 2006, he hit .279/~.351/.360 for the Unicorns. Kim batted .278/~.336/.378 at age 38 in 2007. In 2008, he hit .239/~.309/.327. On September 23, 2008, Kim became the first catcher in KBO history to play 2,000 games. He was the third player overall, right behind Joon-ho Jun (2,058) and Min-jae Kim (2,004).

Kim only played 29 games as a player-coach for the Seoul Heroes in 2009 but put on a show, hitting .368/.456/.579. He then became a full-time coach for the Heroes. He coached for Korea in the 2013 World Baseball Classic.

Kim hit .263/~.350/.423 with 202 home runs and 871 RBI in 2,039 games.

Sources

• KBO Player Page
• Korean wikipedia entry
• Korea Times story on Kim's 2,000th game