Sang-byung Chae

Sang-byung Chae (채상병)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 209 lb.

• School Yonsei University
• High School Whimoon High School

• Born December 18, 1979 in Seoul South Korea

BR register page

Biographical Information

Sang-byung Chae has been a catcher in the Korea Baseball Organization for several years.

While in college, Chae was on the South Korean national team. He was 4 for 15 with two doubles as the main catcher for the Koreans in the 1999 Intercontinental Cup, throwing out 3 of 8 would-be base-stealers and making two errors. He was the All-Star catcher in the 2001 Asian Championship.

Chae turned pro in 2002 with the Hanwha Eagles, going just 2 for 32 with one walk and 11 strikeouts in 29 games as a rookie. He was still chosen for a relatively strong Korean squad in the 2002 Intercontinental Cup, going 1 for 8 with a homer as the backup to In-kwon Kang.

In 2003, Chae was 4 for 27 with six walks. He was then traded to the Doosan Bears for former Olympian Dong-hwan Moon. In 2004, Chae was 3 for 14 with 4 walks and a double as a backup to Sung-heon Hong. He spent 2005 and 2006 in the South Korean military.

Chae returned to Doosan in 2007 and hit .237/~.288/.366 in 91 games, getting regular action. On September 25, Chae hit the third inside-the-park grand slam in Korea Baseball Organization history. He helped the Bears make it to the 2007 Korean Series. When Hong became a full-time DH in 2008, Chae got the starting catcher job and hit .215/~.261/.322.

Chae's playing time has dropped in the first month of 2009 as Seung-hwan Choi has taken over the role of starting backstop for the Bears.

Sources

• Defunct IBAF site
• Chinese Wiki Baseball
• KBO player page
• Korean Wikipedia entry
• English Wikipedia entry