Yong-chan Lee

Yong-chan Lee (이용찬)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 187 lb.

• High School Jangchung High School

• Born January 2, 1989 in Seoul South Korea

BR register page

Biographical Information

Yong-chan Lee won a Gold Medal with South Korea at the 2006 World Junior Championship. He debuted in the Korea Baseball Organization in 2008, going 1-0 with a 1.23 ERA; he allowed 7 hits in 14 2/3 IP. In 2009, Lee was 0-2 with 26 saves and a 4.20 ERA in 51 games for the Doosan Bears, allowing 33 hits in 40 2/3 innings. He tied Jon Adkins for the league lead in saves. He was named the KBO Rookie of the Year.

In 2010, he was better at 2-1 with 25 saves and a 3.24 ERA in 47 games, avoiding a sophomore slump. He was second in the league in saves, one shy of Seung-rak Son. In 2011, the Bears converted him to starting and he had a 6-10, 4.19 record, tying for 5th in losses. He was 10-11 with a 3.00 ERA in the 2012 KBO. He was 7th in the KBO in ERA (between Jin-woo Kim and Suk-min Yoon) and tied Seung Song for third in losses (behind Anthony Lerew and Radhames Liz). He saw limited action in 2013 (1 R in 3 1/3 IP).

Moving back to the bullpen, the Seoul native was 5-5 with 17 saves and a 4.24 ERA in the 2014 KBO, 7th in the loop in saves. He began his military service in 2015 and spent time with the military's Sangmu Phoenix team. In the 2015 Asian Championship, he was with the South Korean national team that won the Gold Medal. He relieved Dong-hyun Choi with one out to go in the 8-2 opening win over Taiwan and retired Chieh-Hsien Chen to end it. In the decisive 2-1 win over defending champion Japan, he replaced Jae-young Kim with one out in the top of the 9th, two on and a 1-0 deficit. He retired Takuya Fujishima on a grounder and fanned Kimio Watanabe to escape the jam, then South Korea got a two-run homer from Ju-suk Ha in the bottom of the inning to give Lee the win.

Source: KBO, Asian Baseball Federation, Japanese Baseball Federation (for play-by-play of 2015 Asian Championship finale, Korean Wikipedia