Seung-ho Lee (leese02)

Seung-ho Lee (이승호)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 9", Weight 176 lb.

• High School Gunsan Commercial High School

• Born September 9, 1981 in Gunsan South Korea

BR register page

Biographical Information

Pitcher Seung-ho Lee played six years in the Korea Baseball Organization, with a 50-51 record, through 2007. He won the Rookie of the Year award as a rookie and played in the Olympics while a teenager.

Lee debuted in 2000 with the SK Wyverns, going 10-12 with 9 saves and a 4.51 ERA, striking out 132 in 139 2/3 IP. He won the Korea Baseball Organization Rookie of the Year award. In the 2000 Olympics, the 19-year-old southpaw struck out 9 in 4 2/3 IP, allowing two hits, two walks and one run.

In 2001, Lee was 14-14 with 2 saves and a 3.55 ERA. The young hurler worked 220 2/3 IP, striking out 165 and walking 115. It is possible he was second in the KBO in strikeouts behind only Fernando Hernandez. He did finish third in ERA, trailing only Seok-jin Park and Yoon-ho Shin. The next year, Lee was only 6-12 despite a career-best 3.15 ERA, fifth in the KBO. He whiffed 144 in 142 2/3 IP while cutting his walk total to 40. He appeared for South Korea in the 2002 Asian Games, making four appearances for the Gold Medal winners, with 4 2/3 shutout innings of work. In 2003, Seung-ho's record was 5-4 with a 4.08 ERA and walked 50 in 97 IP. Oddly, while this Seung-ho Lee failed to make the top 5 in ERA for the first time in three years, another left-handed pitcher by the same name, Seung-ho Lee of the LG Twins, replaced him among the leaders. He won Bronze with South Korea in the 2003 Asian Championship.

Lee's line in 2004 was 15-9 with a 3.99 ERA. He struck out 145 in 169 and was two wins behind the KBO co-leaders, Gary Rath, Young-soo Bae and Danny Rios. In 2005, he struck out 6 and allowed no runs in 3 2/3 IP.

Lee saved 11 games and had a 3.80 ERA through 2005, striking out 673 in 772 2/3 IP.

Lee did not pitch in the KBO from 2005-2007. He appeared for South Korea in the 2007 Baseball World Cup, going 1-1 with a 3.86 ERA. He shut down the Venezuelan national team in a win. Against the Dutch national team, he struck out 11 in 4 2/3 IP but allowed solo homers to Sidney de Jong and Sharnol Adriana and a RBI single to Vince Rooi and lost a 5-1 decision to Leon Boyd. His 17 strikeouts in the Cup were 4th behind Tadashi Settsu, En-Yu Lin and Aroldis Chapman.

Lee returned to the Wyverns in 2008, when they set a new KBO single-season record for wins. He was 4-1 with 2 saves and a 3.57 ERA in 29 games. SK then won the 2008 Korean Series.

Lee was with South Korea when they finished second in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, allowing a hit, walk and no runs in 2 2/3 IP.

Sources: KBO spreadsheets at Google, Korean wikipedia entry, IBAF page, 2002-2005 Baseball Almanacs, KBO Player Page, World Baseball Classic