Jae-chul Lim

Jae-chul Lim (임재철) (the Otter)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 196 lb.

• School Kyungsung University
• High School Bugil Academy

• Born April 8, 1976 in Cheonan South Korea

BR register page

Biographical Information

Jae-chul Lim played in the Korea Baseball Organization for 15 years.

Lim played for South Korea in the 1998 Baseball World Cup. He oddly had more times hit-by-pitch (6) and runs (7) than hits (3), batting .111/.294/.222. In center, he had 17 putouts, one assist and no errors. He easily led the event in HBP, more than some whole teams, two ahead of runner-up Luis Pérez. In the Gold Medal Game, he was 0 for 1 with a HBP against Cuba's José Contreras before being replaced in the lineup by O-hyeon Kwon. South Korea settled for a Silver.

The Lotte Giants selected him in the first round of the 1999 KBO draft, and he hit .322/.403/.509 in 23 games in his first season. Lim slumped to .136/.250/.203 in 2000, then he recorded a .269/.373/.384 batting line in 114 games in 2001. The Giants traded him to the Samsung Lions for Tae-kyun Kim and Myeong-ho Lee in the middle of the 2002 season, and he ended up hitting .194/.275/.292 in 104 games. He was traded again with Seong-kon Kim to the Hanwha Eagles for Seung-min Ji and Tomoyuki Takayama, and Lim's batting line was .241/.334/.385 with a career-high 7 homers.

The Cheonan native was traded for the third straight year in 2004, and this time he was sent to the Doosan Bears with 50 million won for Myong-ju Cha. Lim hit .175/.225/.194 in '04, then he bounced back in 2005 as his batting line was .310/.377/.393. Lim ranked 6th in batting, between Jong-beom Lee and Jae-hong Park. He recorded a .258/.327/.312 batting line in 2006, then he missed the next two years due to military service.

Lim returned in 2009, and he had a .281/.389/.373 batting line in 121 games. He was still a solid 4th outfielder in 2010 as he hit .292/.453/.431 in 96 games, then he only played 36 games in 2011 with a .321/.431/.488 batting line due to injuries. Lim slumped to .243/.283/.346 in 2012, and his batting line was .259/.420/.321 in 70 games in 2013. The LG Twins then selected him in the second draft, and Lim hit .242/.306/.258 in 2014. The Twins released him after the '14 season, and the Giants picked him up. Lim was 8-for-52 in 2015, then he announced his retirement.

Overall, Lim hit .261/.356/.357 with 610 hits and 30 homers in 15 seasons in the KBO. While his pro HBP rate was not as amazing as his amateur one, he was hit by a pitch a dozen times in two different seasons.

Sources

• Defunct IBAF site
• Korean Wiki