Hyun-wook Kim

Hyun-wook Kim (김현욱)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 180 lb.

• School Hanyang University
• High School Kyeongbuk High School

• Born July 6, 1970 in Masan, South Korea

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Hyun-wook Kim pitched in Korea Baseball Organization for 10 years and once led the league in wins.

Kim was drafted by the Samsung Lions in the third round of the 1993 KBO draft, and he pitched 6 games with a 2.45 ERA in 1993. He then spend his next three seasons in the minors, and the Lions traded him with Myeong-sun Ryu to the Ssangbangwool Raiders for Han-lim Choi and Hyeok Yun. The manager of the Raiders, Sung-keun Kim, turned Kim into a reliever, and that saved his career. He was 4-1 with a 2.63 ERA in 49 appearances in 1996, and he was 4th in appearances (tied with Chang-Yong Lim). Kim broke out in 1997, and he was 20-2 with a 1.88 ERA. He led the league in wins, ERA, WHIP, appearances and winning percentage, and he was the first full-time reliever to get 20 wins in KBO history. He also ranked 4th in strikeouts, between Dae-jin Lee and Dae-Sung Koo.

The Masan native was 7-4 with a 3.34 ERA in 1998, ranking 3rd in appearances (8 behind Sang-min Oh and Gi-beom Kim) and 7th in wins (tied with Jae-yeong Wi). He was then traded back to the Lions with Gi-tae Kim and 2 billion won for Yong-mo Yang and Gye-sung Lee. Kim was 6-4 with a 3.97 ERA in 1999, and he went 4-7 with a 3.13 ERA in 63 games in 2000. He notched 14 holds with a 6-6 record and a 4.42 ERA in 54 games in 2001, ranking 2nd in holds (4 behind Myong-ju Cha) and 8th in appearances (tied with Chang-ho Choi). He lost Game 2 of the 2001 Korean Series to the Doosan Bears' Hei-chun Lee.

Kim then went 10-0 with a 2.11 ERA in 64 games in 2002. He led the league in winning percentage, and he was 8th in games (tied with Yong-joon Cho and Sang-youl Lee). He was the second KBO pitcher to have a 1.000 winning percentage with 10 wins, following Bong-ok Oh in 1992. Samsung won the 2002 Korean Series. Kim had a solid 2.00 ERA in 63 appearances with 13 holds in 2003, but his ERA rose to 5.88 in 28 games in 2004. He suffered from a knee injury in 2005 and he missed the entire season, then he announced his retirement

After retiring, Kim became the bullpen coach of the Lions from 2005 to 2006, and he was their pitching coach of the minors team from 2007 to 2009. He then became their strength and conditioning coach from 2011 to 2016, and he went to the LG Twins with the same position from 2018 to 2019. Kim was the pitching coach of the Twins in 2020, and he started to coached the Lotte Giants in 2023. He was also a coach of the [[South Korea national baseball team] in the 2023 Asia Professional Baseball Championship.

Overall, Kim was 71-31 with a 2.99 ERA, struck out 736 and pitched 883 1/3 innings in 10 seasons in KBO.

Related Sites

• Namu Wiki