Jong-kook Kim

Jong-kook Kim (김종국)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 183 lb.

• School Korea University
• High School Gwangju Jeil High School

• Born September 14, 1973 in Kwangju South Korea

BR register page

Biographical Information

Jong-kook Kim was a long-time infielder in the Korea Baseball Organization who has also played on the South Korean national team. He led the KBO in stolen bases once and won one Gold Glove award during his career.

Kim hit .314/.400/.571 with 13 runs and 10 RBI in 10 games in the 1994 Baseball World Cup to help South Korea win a Silver Medal. German Mesa was named the tourney's All-Star SS ahead of Kim, who in turn clearly outhit future MLBer Russ Johnson at the position. He won Silver in the 1994 Asian Games. Kim was named the All-Star SS in the 1995 Asian Championship, in which South Korea won Silver and a spot in the 1996 Olympics.

He debuted professionally with the Haitai Tigers in the KBO in 1996. He hit .215/.284/.350 and stole 22 bases as a rookie.

Kim batted .210/.283/.323 with 13 steals in his second season, remaining a regular. His playing time fell to 42 games in 1998 (.232/.292/.312) and just two games in 1999. By 2000, he was back to 86 games and hitting .259/.324/.342.

In 2001, the Korea University alumnus batted .285/.362/.377 as he emerged as a respectable offensive player for a middle infielder. He stole 21 bases, the first time since his rookie year that he had reached 20. The team was now the KIA Tigers.

He hit .287/.363/.393 in 2002, his career season. He scored 95 runs and led the KBO with 50 steals (in 59 tries); he never topped 70 runs any other season. He won the KBO Gold Glove Award at second base that year. He hit .150 with five walks for South Korea when they won the 2002 Asian Games, starting at 2B. He did his best work in the semifinals and Gold Medal Game, going 2 for 6 (1 for 14 coming in) with 3 walks; his lone RBI came in the Gold Medal contest.

In 2003, the infielder batted .250/.330/.343 and swiped 31 bases. He won Bronze in the 2003 Asian Championship. The next year, he hit .261/.333/.371. His 10 homers were the most since he had clouted 11 as a rookie and he stole 39 bases. In 2005, Kim's batting line read .235/.306/.324. Through 2005, he tied Jae-hong Park for 10th in KBO history in steals (210) and was 28th with 630 strikeouts.

The light-hitting infielder was one of the surprises of the 2006 World Baseball Classic, going 4 for 10 with 2 doubles, 2 runs, one RBI and one stolen base in four games for the successful South Korean entry.

Falling back to Earth during the regular season, Kim hit .226/.286/.294 for KIA with 16 stolen bases in 2006. In 2007, he batted .240/.342/.349 in 92 games. It was the first time in 7 years he did not play in 100 or more games. He was at .233/.313/.317 with 13 steals in 16 tries in 2008. His last season as a player, 2009, he batted .250/.308/.315.

Kim's career batting line is .247/.321/.346 and he has stolen 254 bases in 324 tries in 1,359 games in the KBO. He then became a Tigers coach. He coached for the South Korean national team that finished second in the 2019 Premier 12 and became KIA's manager in 2022, replacing Matt Williams. The team was 70-73-1 his first year at the helm.

Sources: KBO player page, Defunct IBAF site, World Baseball Classic site, KBO yearly leaders, KBO career leaders, Korean Wikipedia