Byung-ho Park (; ; born July 10, 1986) is a South Korean

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. The position is authorized by Major League Baseball Rule 5.11. It was adopted by the American League in 1973 and later by th ...

and

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

for the

KT Wiz KT Wiz ( ko, KT 위즈) are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Suwon. They are a member of the KBO League. Their home stadium is Suwon Baseball Stadium in Suwon. History On 11 January 2013, the Korea Baseball Organization offi ...

of the

KBO League The KBO League (), officially the Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League, is the highest level league of baseball in South Korea. The KBO League was founded with six franchises in 1982 and is the most popular sports league in South Korea. The Kia Tigers ar ...

. He previously played for the

LG Twins LG Corporation (or LG Group) (), formerly Lucky-Goldstar from 1983 to 1995 (Korean: ''Leokki Geumseong''; ), is a South Korean multinational conglomerate founded by Koo In-hwoi and managed by successive generations of his family. It is ...

and

Kiwoom Heroes The Kiwoom Heroes () are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Seoul. They are a member of the KBO League. The Heroes play their home games at Gocheok Sky Dome in Gocheok-dong, a neighborhood located in the southwestern part of Seou ...

, and

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB). In the KBO, Park had two consecutive seasons with 50 home runs (2014–2015) and was the home run title winner for four consecutive seasons (2012–2015). He holds the KBO record for runs batted in during a single season, with 146 RBI in 2015.

Amateur career

Park attended Sungnam High School in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

. Park first gained attention at the 38th President's Cup National High School Baseball Championship, where he became the first high school player to hit four home runs in four consecutive

plate appearance In baseball statistics, a player is credited with a plate appearance (denoted by PA) each time he completes a turn batting. Under Rule 5.04(c) of the Official Baseball Rules, a player completes a turn batting when he is put out or becomes a runner ...

s on April 29 and May 1, . In June 2004, Park led his team to win the 59th

Blue Dragon Flag National High School Baseball Championship In Korea, high school baseball (고등학교 야구) is played at a very high level by students who train year round. Unlike in Japan or the U.S. where nearly every high school fields a team, there are only about 60-70http://news.donga.com/IMAGE/20 ...

, ranked first in

run Run(s) or RUN may refer to: Places * Run (island), one of the Banda Islands in Indonesia * Run (stream), a stream in the Dutch province of North Brabant People * Run (rapper), Joseph Simmons, now known as "Reverend Run", from the hip-hop group ...

s with 10. In August 2004, Park was selected for the South Korean under-18 national team and participated in the

World Junior Baseball Championship The U-18 Baseball World Cup is the 18-and-under baseball world championship sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and its successor, the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), and was first held in 1981 in the United ...

held in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. There he helped the team clinch bronze, leading the team's attack alongside future KBO League stars

Kang Jung-ho Jung-ho Kang ( ko, 강정호; ; born April 5, 1987) is a South Korean professional baseball third baseman for the Kiwoom Heroes of the KBO League. He previously played in the KBO League for the Hyundai Unicorns and Nexen Heroes. He also play ...

and

Choi Jeong Choi Jeong (Hangul: 최정; born February 28, 1987 in Icheon, South Korea) is a third baseman who has played his whole career for the SK Wyverns (known as the SSG Landers beginning in 2021) in the Korea Baseball Organization. He bats and thro ...

Professional career

LG Twins

Park was selected by the

in the first round of the KBO First-Year Player Draft. He entered the league with high expectations, converting his position from

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

to first baseman in his first season. However, Park batted only .190 with only 3 home runs and 21 RBIs in 79 games. In , he batted .162 with 5 home runs, spending most of the season in the minors. After the 2006 season, Park joined the Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps Baseball Team to serve a two-year military service. Although he came back to the Twins after being discharged from the military duty in early , Park continued to hit below the

Mendoza line The Mendoza Line is baseball jargon for a sub-.200 batting average, the supposed minimum threshold for competence at the Major League level. It derives from light-hitting shortstop Mario Mendoza, who failed to reach .200 five times in his nine b ...

(.218 in 2009 and .188 in ), mostly serving as the backup to first baseman Lee Taek-keun.

Nexen Heroes

On July 31, , Park was traded to the

Nexen Heroes The Kiwoom Heroes () are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Seoul. They are a member of the KBO League. The Heroes play their home games at Gocheok Sky Dome in Gocheok-dong, a neighborhood located in the southwestern part of Se ...

along with

Shim Soo-chang Shim Soo-chang (born February 9, 1981, in Seoul, South Korea) is a South Korean relief pitcher for the Hanwha Eagles of the KBO League. He bats and throws right-handed. Amateur career Shim attended Baemyung High School in Seoul, South Korea. ...

for

Kim Seong-hyun Kim Seong-hyun (Hangul: 김성현, Hanja: 金成鉉; born January 3, 1989, in Daegu) is a former South Korean pitcher who formerly played for the Nexen Heroes and the LG Twins in the KBO League. He batted and threw right-handed. Amateur care ...

and Song Sin-yeong. In , Park hit 31 home runs with 105 RBIs, and led the league in

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...

(.561). He also won the 2012

KBO League Most Valuable Player Award The KBO League Most Valuable Player Award is given to the player judged the most valuable player in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) League League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock ...

and the Golden Glove Award at first base. Park showed improved performances in the season. He hit 37 home runs,

(.602), 117 RBIs and scored 91 runs in 2013. He also played all 128 regular-season games as the team's starting first baseman and cleanup hitter. He was selected as an All-Star, won the 2013 KBO League MVP and Gold Glove Award at first base. In the last semi-playoff game against the

Doosan Bears The Doosan Bears ( ko, 두산 베어스) are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Seoul. Founded in 1982, they are a member of the KBO League. The Bears have won six Korean Series titles (1982, 1995, 2001, 2015, 2016, and 2019) and ...

, Park hit a three-run home run against

pitcher

Dustin Nippert Dustin David Nippert (born May 6, 1981) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball, and the Doosan Bears and KT Wiz of the KBO League. Nippert won the KBO ...

to even up the score from 0–3 to 3–3 with two outs in the bottom of the 9th inning. During the 2014 season, he batted .303 with 52 homers and 146 RBIs in 124 games with Nexen in the KBO. His 2015 season with the Heroes was even more impressive, as he batted .343 with 53 home runs, and he set a KBO record for runs batted in with 146.

Minnesota Twins

The

won the rights to negotiate with Park during the 2015–16 offseason after placing a $12.85 million bid through the

posting system The is a baseball player transfer system that operates between Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and Major League Baseball (MLB). Despite the drafting of the United States – Japanese Player Contract Agreement, unveiled in 1967 to regulate ...

. On December 1, 2015, Park signed a four-year, $12 million contract with the Twins. On April 8, 2016, Park hit his first career MLB home run off of

Joakim Soria Joakim Agustín Soria Ramos (born May 18, 1984) is a Mexican former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Royals, Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago White Sox, Milwa ...

in a game against the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...

. After batting .191 in 62 games for the Twins, he was

optioned In the film industry, an option is a contractual agreement pertaining to film rights between a potential film producer (such as a movie studio, a production company, or an individual) and the author of source material, such as a book, play, or s ...

to the

Rochester Red Wings The Rochester Red Wings are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Rochester, New York, and play their home games at Innovative Field ...

of the

Class AAA Triple-A (officially Class AAA) has been the highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946. Currently, two leagues operate at the Triple-A level, the International League (IL) and the Pacific Coast League (PCL ...

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ...

and was never called back up. Park was designated for assignment on February 3, 2017 to make room for

Matt Belisle Matthew Thomas Belisle (beh-LYLE; born June 6, 1980) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockies, St. Louis Cardinals, Washington Nationals, Minnesota T ...

on the roster. On March 30, Park was outrighted, and reassigned to Minor League camp. He spent the entire 2017 season in the minors, and hit .253 with 14 home runs and 60 RBI in 111 games. During the offseason, Park asked to be released by the Twins organization in order to return to the KBO League.

Return to Nexen

On November 26, 2017, Park signed a one-year, $1.4 million contract to return to the Nexen Heroes. He became a free agent following the 2021 season.

KT Wiz

On December 28, 2021, Park signed a three-year contract with the

International career

He represented

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

at the

2014 Asian Games The 2014 Asian Games ( ko, 2014년 아시아 경기대회/2014년 아시안 게임, Icheon sip-sa nyeon Asia gyeonggi daehoe/Icheon sip-sa nyeon Asian Geim), officially known as the 17th Asian Games ( ko, 제17회 아시아 경기대회/제17회 ...

2015 WBSC Premier12 The 2015 WBSC Premier12 was an international baseball championship sponsored by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), the inaugural event of the WBSC Premier12. It was held from November 8 to 21 in Taiwan and Japan. The South Korean ...

and

2018 Asian Games The 2018 Asian Games ( id, Pesta Olahraga Asia 2018 or ''Asian Games 2018''), officially known as the 18th Asian Games and also known as Jakarta-Palembang 2018 or Indonesia 2018, was a Asia, continental multi-sport event that was held from 18 A ...

References

External links

Career statistics and player information
from

{{DEFAULTSORT:Park, Byung-ho 1986 births Living people Asian Games gold medalists for South Korea Asian Games medalists in baseball Baseball players at the 2014 Asian Games Baseball players at the 2018 Asian Games KBO League first basemen LG Twins players Major League Baseball designated hitters Major League Baseball first basemen Major League Baseball players from South Korea Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games Minnesota Twins players Kiwoom Heroes players Sportspeople from North Jeolla Province Rochester Red Wings players South Korean expatriate baseball players in the United States 2015 WBSC Premier12 players