Kyung-hyun Shin

Kyung-hyun Shin (신경현)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 209 lb.

• School Dongguk University
• High School Gunsan Commercial High School

• Born November 28, 1975 in Gunsan South Korea (Korean Wikipedia lists 12/30, but the BR Register, old IBAF site and the KBO all list 11/28)

BR register page

Biographical Information

Kyung-hyun Shin played for the South Korean national team and in the Korea Baseball Organization. His son Jee-hoo Shin followed him to the KBO.

Kyung-hyun Shin was South Korea's #3 catcher in the 1995 Intercontinental Cup, behind Kab-yong Jin and In-sung Cho. He was 1 for 6 with 5 walks, 3 runs and 2 RBI; his one hit was a homer so he had a 1167 OPS despite a .167 average. His homer came against Nicaragua (possibly against Orlando Cuevas). He won Gold with South Korea in the 1997 Asian Championship. The Hanwha Eagles picked him in the second round of the 1998 KBO draft.

He was 0 for 7 with a walk in 1998, and had the same numbers in 1999. He hit .155/.211/.268 in 77 plate appearances in 2000 and .325/.400/.450 in 45 times up in 2001 then missed time due to mandatory military service. Returning to action in 2004, he became a regular and batted .274/.329/.383, followed by .277/.338/.368 in 2005. He produced at a .243/.308/.305 clip in 2006, the season Hyun-jin Ryu broke in; Ryu would praise Shin's great game-calling. He hit .250/.298/.308 in 2007, .267/.328/.372 in 2008, .256/.356/.313 in 2009 and .249/.318/.419 with a career-high 10 homers in 253 plate appearances in 2010.

Shin hit .266/.335/.318 and fielded .995 in 2011 then slipped to .181/.253/.181 in 2012, still Hanwha's most-used catcher by a little. He retired with a .252/.317/.337 batting line in 976 KBO games, scoring 236 runs and driving in 224. He coached for the team from 2014-2017.