Tae-Hyon Chong (

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 ...

: 정대현,

Hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, wh ...

: 鄭大炫; born November 10, 1978 in

Gunsan Gunsan (), also romanized as Kunsan, is a city in North Jeolla Province, South Korea. It is on the south bank of the Geum River just upstream from its exit into the Yellow Sea. It has emerged as a high-tech manufacturing industrial city and an int ...

Jeollabuk-do North Jeolla Province (; ''Jeollabuk-do''), also known as Jeonbuk, is a province of South Korea. North Jeolla has a population of 1,869,711 (2015) and has a geographic area of 8,067 km2 (3,115 sq mi) located in the Honam region in the southwest ...

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 ...

) is a retired

n underhand

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

who played 17 years

Korea Professional Baseball 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 bats 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 ...

. Chong was considered as a submarine pitcher with an unusual delivery. His primary pitches were a sinking fastball (sinker), usually sitting around 80 mph, and a curveball.

Amateur career

In 1999, as a junior at

Kyung Hee University Kyung Hee University (abbreviated to KHU) (Hangul: 경희대학교; Hanja: 慶熙大學校) is a private research university in South Korea with campuses in Seoul and Suwon. Founded in 1949, it is widely regarded as one of the best universities i ...

, Chong was selected as a member of the

South Korea national baseball team The South Korean national baseball team ( ko, 대한민국 야구 국가대표팀) is the national baseball team of South Korea. It won the Baseball World Cup in 1982, and participated in the Summer Olympic Games of 1984, 1988, 1996, and 2000. At ...

for the 1999 Intercontinental Cup in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. At the Intercontinental Cup, he was 1-1 with a 1.47 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 18.1 innings. In Korea's first game of the

round-robin tournament A round-robin tournament (or all-go-away-tournament) is a competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero ...

against

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

, Chong came on to pitch in relief and led his team to a 4-3 victory, which was South Korea's first victory over Cuba at international baseball competitions organized by the

IBAF The International Baseball Federation (IBAF; Spanish: ''Federación Internacional de Béisbol'', French: ''Fédération internationale de baseball'') is the former worldwide governing body recognized by the International Olympic Committee as over ...

. Besides, he pitched an 8.2 inning shutout victory over the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

with nine strikeouts. In 2000, as a senior Chong was selected for the

for the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

held in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. As the only amateur player on the 24-man roster, Chong started two critical games against

Team USA The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

, facing

Roy Oswalt Roy Edward Oswalt (; born August 29, 1977) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Oswalt played for the majority of his Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the Houston Astros. He also played for the Philadelphia Phillies, Texa ...

as a starter in both of the games. In the first game against the United States in the round-robin, he pitched seven scoreless innings with five strikeouts, allowing six hits. In the semifinal game against the United States, he gave up only two runs and five hits in 6.1 innings with six strikeouts. Due to his impressive performance, Team South Korea eventually won their first Olympic medal.

Notable international careers

Professional career

In , signed by the

SK Wyverns SSG Landers () are a South Korean professional baseball team. The team was originally established as the SK Wyverns but was renamed as the SSG Landers in 2021 after Shinsegae acquired the team from SK Group. They are a member of the KBO League. B ...

, he had a mediocre rookie season, pitching only 16.2 innings in 18 games as a

setup man In baseball, a setup man (or set-up man, also sometimes referred to as a setup pitcher or setup reliever) is a relief pitcher who regularly pitches before the closer. They commonly pitch the eighth inning, with the closer pitching the ninth. As ...

with a 5.40

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

and 20

strikeouts In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

, allowing 19 hits and 10

earned run In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an err ...

s. In , Chong had a better season, pitching 42 innings in 24 games with a 3.21 ERA and 30

. In November, he was selected for the South Korean national team and led his team to the silver medal at the

2002 Intercontinental Cup The 2002 Intercontinental Cup was an association football match played on 3 December 2002, between Real Madrid of Spain, winners of the 2001–02 UEFA Champions League, and Olimpia of Paraguay, winners of the 2002 Copa Libertadores. The match was ...

. In the

, Chong racked up 11 strikeouts against

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

, allowing 2 runs and 6 hits in 5.2 innings pitched, and pitched a 5-1 complete game victory over

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

. Chong started for South Korea in the gold medal game, and allowed 2 runs over 6 innings in a 1-2 loss to

. He tied

José Ibar José Ibar Martínez (born May 4, 1969) is a Cuban baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, wit ...

of Cuba for the Cup lead in strikeouts. In the season, he pitched 51 innings in 37 games, going 4-3 with a 2.29

, 2 saves and 8 holds, allowing 33 hits, 4 home runs and 13 earned runs. In , Chong appeared in 52 games with 69.1 innings pitched and posted a record of 2-3 with a 2.34 ERA, 2 saves and a career-best 16 holds, allowing 62 hits and 2 home runs. In , Chong got an injury at his arm and missed the first half of the season, undergoing

arthroscopic surgery Arthroscopy (also called arthroscopic or keyhole surgery) is a minimally invasive surgical procedure on a joint in which an examination and sometimes treatment of damage is performed using an arthroscope, an endoscope that is inserted into the jo ...

. He came back from injury in the second half of the season and posted a remarkable ERA of 0.37, racking up 3 saves and 6 holds and allowing only 1 earned run in 24.1 innings pitched. In , Chong shared the Wyverns' closer role with former

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), ...

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue (medical), fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection (sports), ejection, or for other strategic ...

José Cabrera. Chong recorded 15 saves and 11 holds with a 2.57 ERA. Chong had his career-best season in , when Cabrera left via free agency to the

Lotte Giants The Lotte Giants ( ko, 롯데 자이언츠) are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Busan. They are a member of the KBO League. The Lotte Giants are owned by Lotte Corporation, which also owns the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Pro ...

and Chong became the full-time closer for the Wyverns. Chong posted career-highs in saves (27) and strikeouts (65) with a 0.92 ERA, and allowed only 50 hits and 3 home runs in 78.1 innings pitched. He became the first pitcher to have a sub-1.00 ERA in 70+ innings pitched since 1995, when South Korean pitching legend Sun Dong-Yeol posted a 0.49 ERA in 109.1 innings pitched. In , Chong was called up for the

and participated in the

2008 Summer Olympic Games The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nati ...

held in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. He led his team to the gold medal, pitching 4 innings with 7 strikeouts, allowing one run and saving two. In the gold medal game, closer Chong contributed to escaping the one-out bases-loaded jam by inducing a game-ending double play along with battery mate

Jin Kab-Yong Jin Kab-yong (Hangul: 진갑용; born May 8, 1974 in Busan, South Korea) is a retired catcher who last played for the Samsung Lions in the Korea Baseball Organization. He batted and threw right-handed. Amateur career In February 1993, while att ...

to edge Cuba 3-2. In , Chong was sidelined in the early part of the season due to a chronic knee problem. He came back to the bullpen in May but was demoted from his role as Wyverns closer, losing the job to Lee Seung-Ho. Chong completed a strong season as a flexible set-up man and an occasional closer as well, posting a 1.40 ERA with 8 holds and 4 saves in 49 games.

KBO career statistics

Notable international careers

External links

* Career statistics and player information fro
the KBO official site

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chong, Tae-Hyon 1978 births 2006 World Baseball Classic players 2009 World Baseball Classic players 2013 World Baseball Classic players 2015 WBSC Premier12 players Asian Games gold medalists for South Korea Asian Games medalists in baseball Baseball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Baseball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Baseball players at the 2010 Asian Games Living people Lotte Giants players Olympic baseball players for South Korea Olympic bronze medalists for South Korea Olympic gold medalists for South Korea Olympic medalists in baseball Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games SSG Landers players South Korean baseball players People from Gunsan Sportspeople from North Jeolla Province