Dong-won Park

Dong-won Park (박동원) (Tuna)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 202 lb.

• High School Gaesung High School

• Born April 7, 1990 in Busan South Korea

BR register page

Biographical Information

Dong-won Park played in the Korea Baseball Organization.

Park was drafted by the Seoul Heroes in the 3rd round of the 2009 KBO draft, and he was placed in the minors in his first two seasons. He then missed the 2011 and 2012 seasons due to military service, and he hit .194/.255/.286 in 69 games in 2013 after returning. He made a stupid error in the postseason against the Doosan Bears on October 11. When runners were in first and third, Won-seok Lee hit a single to right and Park thought the game was over and he gave up. However, Soo-bin Jung made a wrong decision as he assumed that outfielder Ji-Man Song would catch the ball, so he came back to step on third base. Thus, Park could easily have tagged Jung out if he had stayed and caught Song's throw, but it ended up becoming a walk-off hit for the Bears. Doosan won the next game and eliminated the Heroes.

The Busan native improved to .253/.321/.420 in 76 games in 2014, and he was 4-for-11 in the playoff series to help the Heroes advance to the 2014 Korean Series. Park started in all six games, but the Heroes lost to the Samsung Lions. He was named their starting catcher in 2015, and he hit .267/.340/.414 with 14 homers. Park then hit .248/.304/.416 in 2016, and he was selected into the 2016 KBO All-Star Game. He improved to .270/.320/.434 in 2017, but he then involved in a sexual assault scandal with his teammate Sang-woo Cho. He only played 39 games in 2018 because of the scandal, and he was proven completely innocent. Park crushed 10 homers with a .297/.367/.445 batting line in 2019, and he played 112 games with a 250/.338/.426 batting line in 2020.

In 2021, Park crushed a career-high 22 homers, and his batting line was .249/.342/.460. The Heroes then traded him to the KIA Tigers for Tae-jin Kim and a second round pick of the 2022 KBO draft. Park ended up hitting .242/.334/.436 with 18 homers in 2022, and he became a free agent after that season. The LG Twins signed him with a 4-year, 6.5 billion won contract, and he blasted 20 homers with a .249/.334/.443 batting line for them in 2023. In the 2023 Korean Series, Park crushed a game-winning, 2-run shot against Yeong-hyun Park in Game 2, and he get another 2-run home run against Dong-hyun Son in Game 3. The Twins beat the KT Wiz in 5 games and won the title. Park crushed 20 homers again in 2024 with a .272/.349/.461 batting line, and he made it onto Korea's roster for the 2024 Premier 12.

Sources

• Namu Wiki