Han-soo Kim

Han-soo Kim (김한수)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 194 lb.

• School Chung-Ang University
• High School Kwangyoung High School

• Born October 30, 1971 in Seoul South Korea

BR register page

Biographical Information

Han-soo Kim was a third baseman for 14 years in the Korea Baseball Organization and won the KBO Gold Glove Award six times as the best third baseman in the league. He played for South Korea in the 2000 Olympics, 2002 Asian Games and 2003 Asian Championship

Kim debuted in the KBO in 1994 with the Samsung Lions and hit .272/~.314/.441. He batted .304/~.333/.413 in limited action in 1995 and played sparingly in 1996 as well, hitting .185/~.241/.185.

In 1997, Kim produced at a .292/~.352/.412 rate and was 8th in the KBO with 68 RBI. The next season, Han-soo hit .300/~.336/.454 with 15 homers and 80 RBI. He again finished 8th in the league in RBI and he won his first Gold Glove Award.

Kim batted .340/~.396/.525 in 1999 with 36 doubles, 18 home runs and 88 RBI even though the league had foreign players for the first time. He was 4th in the KBO in average and again was the Gold Glove pick at third. In the 1999 Asian Championship, he was on the Gold Medal-winning South Korean team. Kim hit .263/~.325/.369 in an off-season in 2000 with only 7 home runs. He still played in the 2000 Olympics, batting .368/.400/.526 for the Bronze Medalists. He split third base duties evenly with Dong-joo Kim. He played the final inning of the Bronze Medal game as a defensive substitute for Dong-joo Kim. Dong-joo Kim, by the way, was the only player to beat out Han-soo Kim for a Gold Glove between 1998 and 2003.

The Samsung third baseman hit .311/~.372/.480 with 29 doubles in 2001 and again won a Gold Glove. He picked up his 4th Gold Glove in 2002 after batting .311/~.404/.467 with 17 homers. That year, Samsung won the Korean Series. South Korea won the 2002 Asian Games, though he was 0 for 7 with two walks while backing up Dong-joo Kim. In 2003, Kim won his fifth Gold Glove with a .295/~.357/.454 batting line and another 17-homer season. He won Bronze in the 2003 Asian Championship.

Kim hit .271/~.338/.432 for the 2004 Lions with 30 doubles, 16 home runs and 84 RBI. He took home his sixth and final Gold Glove. He remained productive in 2005 with a .293/~.374/.448 season, as Samsung won another Korean Series. They repeated the feat in 2006, when their veteran third baseman batted .254/~.344/.359, slowing down at age 34.

In his final campaign (2007), Kim hit .235/~.289/.311 with only 3 home runs in 289 AB. After the year, he retired to coach for Samsung. He spent one year, 2009, coaching in Japan for the Yomiuri Giants, then returned to Samsung. He coached for South Korea in the 2013 World Baseball Classic. He became Samsung's manager in 2017 but struggled at 55-84-5 that year. After three seasons, he was replaced by data analyst Sam-young Heo.

Kim's overall batting line in 14 KBO seasons was .289/~.350/.432 with 279 doubles and 149 homers. Through 2005, he was among the all-time league leaders in average (14th, .295), doubles (8th, 253), games played (24th, 1,293), hits (8th, 1,359), home runs (26th, 139), RBI (15th, 702), runs (24th, 638) and strikeouts (17th, 702).

Sources

• Defunct IBAF site
• KBO player page
• Korean wikipedia
• KBO career leaders through 2005