Young-woo Lee

Young-woo Lee (이영우)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 11", Weight 190 lb.

• School Konkuk University
• High School Sunrin Commercial High School

• Born November 27, 1973 in Seoul South Korea

BR register page

Biographical Information

Young-woo Lee played in the Korea Baseball Organization, leading the league in doubles and triples once each, and won Gold with the South Korean national team.

Lee hit .105/.227/.105 for South Korea in the 1993 Intercontinental Cup then won Silver with them in the 1994 Asian Games. The Hanwha Eagles took him in the 2nd round of the 1996 KBO draft. He debuted in 1996, hitting .269/.360/.414. He fell to .202/.241/.339 in 31 games in 1997 but rebounded to .273/.354/.434 in 1998 even though competition became tougher as the KBO began allowing foreign import players.

When Hanwha added Dan Rohrmeier in 1999, Lee moved to left field. He had a big year at .334/.399/.522 with 33 doubles, 4 triples, 13 homers, 16 steals in 23 tries and 83 runs. He was 6th in the KBO in average (between Jong-soo Shim and Jong-tae Park) and tied Seung-yeop Lee and Ki-tae Kim for 5th in doubles. With Lee as the leadoff sparkplug, Hanwha won the 1999 Korean Series (their lone title through 2019).

Lee kept on rolling in 2000 with a .318/.392/.571 batting line, 36 doubles, 5 triples, 25 dingers and 91 runs. He was on the leaderboards in average (10th, between Byung-kyu Lee and Tyrone Woods), runs (tied Woods for 7th), hits (152, 6th, 4 behind #5 Julio Franco), doubles (1st, 3 ahead of Ji-man Song and Seung-yeop Lee) and triples (tied for 1st).

In 2001, he had an off-year but still solid at .286/.385/.486 with 72 runs and 62 walks. He hit .315/.415/.525 with 76 runs, 24 homers and 73 walks in 2002. He was 6th in average (between Dong-joo Kim and Han-soo Kim), 3rd in walks (behind Seung-yeop Lee and Sung-ho Jang), 3rd in runs (after Seung-yeop Lee and Shim), 7th in hits (150), tied Jong-kook Kim for 7th in doubles (26), 9th in home runs, 3rd in OBP (after Jang and Seung-yeop Lee), 7th in slugging (between Dong-joo Kim and Jang), 8th in OPS (between Song and Jay Davis) and 7th in total bases (250, between Jang and Tilson Brito). He was not picked as one of the league's top 3 outfielders as Shim, Song and Jong-beom Lee were picked. During the 2001 Baseball World Cup, he hit .176/.243/.176 as South Korea's main first baseman, though he did handle 69 chances error-free.

He played in the 2002 Asian Games, hitting .353 as South Korea's primary right fielder and leadoff man as they took home the Gold. In 2003, he produced at a .297/.399/.466 clip for the Eagles with 28 doubles, 16 home runs, 18 steals in 27 tries, 78 walks and 90 runs. He tied Hae-yeong Ma for 6th in runs, tied Kyung-hyun An for 7th in doubles, tied for 6th in triples (4), was 9th in steals (between Jun-ho Jeon and Han-lee Park), was 6th in walks and was 7th in OBP (between Jin-young Lee and Han-lee Park).

Lee's last big campaign came in the 2004 KBO: .319/.415/.476, 31 2B, 94 R, 73 BB. He was 7th in the loop in average (between Ki-tae Kim and Jun-hyuk Yang), tied Kyung-wan Park for 4th in runs, tied Robert Pérez for 5th in hits (154), was second in two-baggers (four behind Bum-ho Lee), tied for 9th with 3 triples, was 6th in swipes, was 7th in walks (between Shim and Tae-gyun Kim) and was 6th in OBP (between Jae-hyun Kim and Shim).

He was then one of many South Korean players to get caught in a scheme to avoid their mandatory military service. As a result, he had to fulfill his service at that point, causing him to miss two seasons. When he returned to the diamond, he had faded. In 2007, he batted .238/.320/.313. He tied for 5th with four triples, his last time on the leaderboard. He hit a decent .288/.347/.402 in a part-time role in 2008 with 21 doubles in 271 at-bats. He had similar stats in 2009 - .277/.345/.427 in 293 plate appearances. He was 2 for 21 in 2010 to end his career.

Overall, he hit .293/.378/.464 in 1,312 KBO games, with 735 runs and 533 RBI. He had 272 doubles, 33 triples, 135 homers, 112 steals in 193 tries and 562 walks. His 17 homers leading off a game were among the highest totals in league annals; only Jong-beom Lee apparently had more. Entering 2020, he was 41st in KBO history in average, 46th in runs (between Dong-soo Kim and Min-ho Kang), 34th in doubles (between Han-soo Kim and Kyung-wan Park), tied for 29th in triples and 46th in walks (between Byung-ho Park and Dong-woo Kang).

He coached at Taejon High School in 2011 then coached for Hanwha from 2012-2015 (some of that time with their minor league team) and for the kt Wiz in 2016.