Back Sang-Won (

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The let ...

: 백상원) (born January 2, 1988, in

Daegu Daegu (, , literally 'large hill', 대구광역시), formerly spelled Taegu and officially known as the Daegu Metropolitan City, is a city in South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; it is ...

) is a South Korean former

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles. ...

, who played 6 seasons for the

Samsung Lions The Samsung Lions () are a South Korean professional baseball team founded in 1982. They are based in the southeastern city of Daegu and are members of the KBO League. Their home stadium is Daegu Samsung Lions Park. They have won the Korean Champ ...

in the

Korea Baseball Organization The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO; ko, 한국야구위원회) is the governing body for the professional leagues of baseball in South Korea. The KBO was founded in 1981 and has governed two leagues: the KBO League ( ko, KBO 리그) and KBO ...

. He bats

left-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

and throws

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

Amateur career

Back was first called up to the South Korean collegiate national team as a junior at

Dankook University Dankook University (commonly referred to as Dankook), abbreviated as DU or DKU, is a prestigious private research university in Yongin and Cheonan, South Korea. The university was established in 1947. It was the first university established after ...

in when he batted .403 in the national collegiate league. With South Korea, he competed in the IBAF World University Baseball Championship held in

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. Back batted .286 and drove in 3 runs and stole 2 bases, playing as a starting second baseman. He went 2-for-3, including a RBI double, off "Handkerchief Prince" Yuki Saito in the team's semifinal against

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. As a senior in , Back was selected for the South Korean national team again and participated in the

Asian Baseball Championship The Asian Baseball Championship is the main championship tournament between national baseball teams in Asia, governed by the Baseball Federation of Asia (BFA). It is held every other year in odd-numbered years and since 1983 it also functions a ...

held in

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city ...

Notable international careers

Professional career

After graduation from Dankook University, Back was drafted in the KBO Entry Draft by the

as the 4th pick of the 4th round, 28th overall. In the 2010

Futures League The Toyota Second XI or Futures League is the Australian national second XI cricket competition. Run by Cricket Australia, it is part of its development program and includes the various state and territory second XI teams, from the 2009–10 se ...

, Back was ranked first in

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

with .306, playing in 106 games. However, Back spent his entire 2010 season in the Lions' second-tier team. After the 2010 season, Back joined the Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps Baseball Team to serve a two-year military duty. In October 2011, Back competed in the

2011 Baseball World Cup The 2011 Baseball World Cup (BWC) was the 39th international Men's amateur baseball tournament. The tournament was sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation, which titled it the Amateur World Series from the 1938 tournament through the ...

as a member of the South Korean national baseball team. In the tourney, he shared second base duties with

Choi Joo-Hwan Choi Joo-hwan (Hangul: 최주환; born February 28, 1988) is a South Korean second baseman who plays for the SSG Landers in the KBO League. He bats left-handed and throws right-handed. Amateur career While attending Dongsung High School in G ...

but struggled at the plate, batting just .154. The Lions released Sang-won on October 19, 2018.

Notable international careers

References

External links

Profile and stats
on the KBO official site
Back Sang-Won
on Samsung Lions Baseball Club {{DEFAULTSORT:Back, Sang-Won Samsung Lions players KBO League second basemen South Korean baseball players 1988 births Living people Baseball players from Daegu