Min-sung Kim

Min-sung Kim (김민성)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 172-207 lb.

• School Yeungnam University
• High School Duksoo High School

• Born December 17, 1988 in Seoul South Korea

BR register page

Biographical Information

Min-sung Kim has played in the KBO and for the South Korean national team.

Kim was a 2nd-round pick of the Lotte Giants in 2007. He was 0 for 1 for the team in 2007, then hit .200/.259/.240 in 28 plate appearances in 2008. He became a regular in 2009 at age 20, batting .248/.349/.336. He started 2010 on a slightly improved note (.256/.360/.360 after 43 G) then was shipped to the Nexen Heroes with Soo-hwa Kim for future major leaguer Jae-gyun Hwang. He hit only .149/.264/.160 in 37 games after the trade.

He became the starter at second for the Heroes, hitting .236/.311/.312 in 2011 and getting hit by nine pitches, tied for 6th in the KBO. In 2012, he injured his ankle and by the time he had returned, Keon-chang Seo had claimed the second base job. He filled in at short while Jung-ho Kang was out then moved to third. For the season, he had hit .283/.346/.379 and went 7-for-9 in steal attempts. In 2013, he was the regular at third and hit .282/.360/.441 with 15 homers and 24 doubles. He tied for 9th in the circuit in two-baggers and tied Dong-min Han for 7th in times plunked (16).

The Seoul native hit .292/.349/.450 with 29 doubles in 2014. He made the South Korean team for the 2014 Asian Games, only getting two at-bats in seven plate appearances as an OBP wizard (1 for 2, 3 BB, 2 HBP, 2 R), handling three assists while backing up Hwang at 3B and Jae-won Oh at 2B for the Gold Medal winners. The Gold earned him an exemption from South Korea's otherwise-mandatory military service. He then set a KBO playoff record with 7 RBI in a game. The team made it to the Korean Series for the only time in Nexen's ownership.

Kim went deep 16 times in 2015, batting .303/.357/.465. In 2016, he hit .306/.367/.502 with 39 doubles, 5 triples, 17 dingers and 90 RBI while fielding .981 at the hot corner. He tied Tae-kyun Kim for 2nd in doubles (5 behind Hyoung-woo Choi) and he tied Hwang, Jae-hyun Kim and Ji-hwan Oh for 5th in triples. He produced at a .282/.345/.436 clip with 15 homers and 78 RBI in the 2017 KBO and fielded .983 at 3B.

In 2018, he batted .283/.351/.414. He moved to the LG Twins as a free agent and slipped to .260/.323/.371 in 2019. He has started 2020 better (.292/.356/.423 after 50 G).