Jin-woo Kim (02)

Jin-woo Kim (김진우)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 4", Weight 258 lb.

• High School Gwangju Jinheung High School

• Born March 7, 1983 in Chuncheon, Gangwon South Korea

BR register page

Biographical Information

Jin-woo Kim has pitched for the Korea Baseball Organization and for the South Korean national team.

Kim was the first-round pick of the KIA Tigers in the 2002 KBO draft, signing for a then-record 700-million won. He was 12-11 with a 4.07 ERA as a rookie in 2002 but fanned a league-high 177 (8 ahead of Myung-hwan Park). He tied Victor Cole and Soo-kyung Kim for 8th in wins. He did not get Rookie of the Year, which went to relief specialist Yong-joon Cho. He did make South Korea's squad that won the 2002 Asian Games. He had a 2.00 ERA in two starts against China, fanning 10 in 6 shutout innings in the round-robin but giving up 2 runs in 3 innings in the semifinals. That won him exemption from South Korea's otherwise-mandatory military service.

He was 11-5 with a 3.45 ERA in the 2003 KBO. He finished 4th in ERA (between Min-tae Chong and Sang-mok Lee), tied for 6th in wins, was second with four complete games (one behind Satoshi Iriki) and was second in Ks (146, 11 behind Seung-ho Lee). He was on the South Korean squad that took Bronze in the 2003 Asian Championship. He was 7-2 with a save and a 2.86 ERA in reduced action in 2004.

In 2005, he fell to 6-10, 3.91 with a save. He easily led the KBO with six complete games as no one else had more than two. He was 3rd in whiffs (123, behind Young-soo Bae and Doo-sung Hwang) and 10th in ERA. The next year, he was a strong 10-4, 2.69. Things collapsed in 2007 as he was 1-2 with a 8.35 ERA, walking over a batter per inning. Several comeback attempts fell through until he made it back to the KBO in 2011 (0-1, 2 Sv, 5.19).

Back in KIA's rotation in 2012, he looked again like his old self: 10-5, 2.90. He was 6th in ERA, between Seung-hwan Yoon and Yong-chan Lee. He trailed off in 2013 (9-10, 4.99) though he fanned 130 in 126 1/3 innings. He was 3-4 with a save and a 5.96 ERA in 2014, 1-0 with a 3.46 ERA in four games in 2015 and 2-1, 4.80 in 2016. In 2017, he struggled badly (2-6, 7.93), apparently ending his KBO career unless he made another big comeback. He was 74-61 with a 4.07 ERA in 247 KBO games.

Pitching for Geelong-Korea in the 2018-2019 Australian Baseball League, he was rocked (1-8, 9.36). He led the ABL in defeats. He signed with the Mexican League's Sultanes de Monterrey for 2019, going 1-1 with a 6.12 ERA.