Yong-cheol Kim

Yong-cheol Kim (김용철)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 198 lb.

• High School Busan Commercial High School

• Born September 21, 1957 in Busan South Korea

BR register page

Biographical Information

Yong-cheol Kim played in the Korea Baseball Organization for 11 years.

Kim represented South Korea in the 1976 Haarlemse Honkbalweek. He joined the Lotte Giants when the KBO was founded in 1982, and he hit .300/.403/.470 with 10 homers in his first season. Kim was also selected into the 1982 KBO All-Star Game, and he crushed 3 homers in Game 2 but lost the MVP to Yong-hee Kim, who blasted the first grand slam in All-Star history. His batting line was .281/.354/.486 with 14 homers in 1983, and he ranked 8th in homers (between Koo-seon Jeong and Mu-jung Kim) and 3rd in doubles (tied with Hae-chang Lee, Woo-yeol Kim and Young-gu Lee).

The Busan native improved to .327/.398/.590 with 21 homers in 1984, and he won his first KBO Gold Glove as a first baseman. He was 3rd in batting (between Mun-jong Hong and Hyo-jo Jang), 2nd in hits (9 behind Hong), 2nd in doubles (1 behind Hong), 2nd in homers (2 behind Man-soo Lee) and 3rd in RBI (between Kwang-eun Lee and Hong). Kim slumped to .223/.290/.330 in 1985, and he bounced back soon with a .288/.354/.447 batting line in 1986. He led the league in doubles in 1986, and he was 5th in RBI (tied with Sung-han Kim).

Kim collected 32 doubles with a .314/.386/.463 batting line in 1987, and he led the league in doubles again. He was 10th in batting (between Hyeong-seok Kim and Sung-han Kim), 4th in hits (between Kwang-eun Lee and Hong) and 4th in RBI (between Seong-rae Kim and Jang). He then recorded a .292/.356/.500 batting line with 18 homers in 1988, and he won his second Gold Glove as a designated hitter (the KBO Gold Glove is for the best overall player at each position, not being a defense-only award). He was 3rd in doubles (tied with Kwang-rim Kim), 7th in hits (between Jeong-hun Lee and Seong-rae Kim), 3rd in homers (tied with Man-soo Lee and Dae-hwa Han) and 2nd in RBI (20 behind Sung-han Kim).

The Giants then traded him with Moon-han Lee to the Lions for Jang and Tae-soo Chang, and he crushed 11 homers with a .304/.362/.453 batting line in 1989. He was 4th in batting (between Cheol-woo Park and Jang), 9th in hits (31 behind Kang-don Lee) and 4th in RBI (tied with Man-soo Lee). Kim crushed 12 homers with a .258/.316/.440 batting line in 1990, and he was 9th in RBI (tied with Ki-woong Kang and Sang-hun Kim). He blasted 15 homers with a .250/.339/.448 batting line in 1991, but he slumped to .248/.341/.402 in 1992 then he retired. Kim was the batting coach for Samsung's minor league team from 1993 to 1994, for their big club from 1995 to 1997, for the Hyundai Unicorns from 1998 to 2000 and for the Giants from 2001 to 2002. He then became Lotte's bench coach in 2003, and he was their interim manager for 2 months.

Overall, Kim hit .284/.355/.461 with 968 hits and 131 homers in 11 seasons in the KBO.

Sources

• Namu Wiki