Kyung-hyun An

Kyung-hyun An (안경현)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 191 lb.

• School Yonsei University
• High School Wonju High School

• Born February 13, 1970 in Wonju, Gangwon

BR register page

Biographical Information

Kyung-hyun An played 17 seasons with the OB Bears/Doosan Bears through 2008 before moving on in 2009. He has played every infield position during his career.

An played in the 1989 Intercontinental Cup and helped the South Korean national team tie for first in the 1989 Asian Championship. He was 3 for 29 in 19 games as a rookie for the Bears in 1992. In 1993, he hit .204/.287/.306 in 75 games. The next year, the Bears youngster improved to .238/.343/.391 in 77 contests. An became a regular in 1995 and batted .280/.330/.398. In 1996, he hit .251/.316/.365. In a reduced role in 1997, An's batting line was .284/.360/.453. In 1998, he hit .249/.310/.362.

An's batting line was .247/.322/.344 in 1999. In 2000, Kyung-hyun batted .277/.355/.415. He hit .282/.368/.481 in 2001 with a career-high 17 home runs, 31 doubles and 87 RBI. It was his first season with double-digit homers. At age 31, he won his first Gold Glove at second base; in the KBO, the Gold Glove goes to the best overall player at each position, not just the best defender.

An fell to .288/.349/.403 in 2002 but bounced back for a career year in 2003. That season, his batting line was .333/.396/.467 and he drove home 72 runs. He was third in the Korea Baseball Organization in average (behind Jong-soo Shim and Dong-joo Kim), 4th in hits (158) and 9th in OBP. He won his second Gold Glove.

In 2004, the veteran hit .280/.372/.396. He only hit 4 homers in 2005 but otherwise did okay, with a batting line of .293/.382/.380. He was 9th in the KBO in OBP and won his third and last Gold Glove. He reached 100 career homers that season, the 41st player in league history to accomplish that.

An batted .284/.377/.440 in 2006 and found his power stroke again, with 15 homers (10th in the league). He was 9th in the KBO with 70 RBI. In 2007, he hit .274/.341/.362. In the 2007 Korean Series, An was involved in a conflict-loaded game 2. He had his hand broken by a Byung-yong Chei pitch in the 2nd inning; the teams would get into a brawl later in the game after another plunking.

An hit .257/.353/.327 in 2008. Let go by the Bears, the 39-year-old hit only .207/.233/.293 as a bench player for the SK Wyverns in 2009. He only hit .154/.214/.385 in 8 games in 2010, then announced his retirement.

Overall, An hit .274/.350/.398 with 1,483 hits and 121 homers in 1,758 contests in 19 seasons in KBO.

Primary Sources

• KBO player page
• Korean wikipedia