Han Ki-Joo (

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 ...

: 한기주,

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 ...

: 韓基周) (born April 29, 1987 in

Gwangju Gwangju () is South Korea's sixth-largest metropolis. It is a designated metropolitan city under the direct control of the central government's Home Minister. The city was also the capital of South Jeolla Province until the provincial office ...

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 right-handed

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 ...

who plays 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 ...

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 ...

Amateur career

Han attended Dongsung High School in

. In 2004, he was selected for the South Korea national junior team that won the bronze medal at the 2004 World Junior Baseball Championship 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 ...

. Han, the youngest player on the South Korean team roster, pitched 7 shutout innings, struck out 12, and allowed only 3 hits to win over

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 ...

in the round-robin. In 2005, he was selected for the national junior team again, along with

Kim Kwang-Hyun Kwang-hyun Kim (Hangul: 김광현; born July 22, 1988) is a South Korean left-handed pitcher for the SSG Landers of KBO League. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals and in KBO for the SK Wyverns. Amateur c ...

and Ryu Hyun-Jin, and participated in the 6th

Asian Junior Baseball Championship The U-18 Asian Baseball Championship is an under-18 international baseball tournament sanctioned and created by the Baseball Federation of Asia (BFA). The tournament is prior to the 18U Baseball World Cup which is held every other year. Results ...

held 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 ...

. However, his performance was very disappointing, pitching to a 6.28 ERA in 3 games (1 start).

Notable international careers

Professional career

Han debuted with the 2006

Kia Tigers Kia Tigers ( ko, KIA 타이거즈) are a South Korean professional baseball team founded in 1982 and based in the southwestern city of Gwangju. Until 2001, they were known as the Haitai Tigers. The Tigers are a members of the KBO League and are ...

and finished with a record of 11-10, a 3.26 ERA and 78 strikeouts in 44 games. As a rookie starter, he had a fine season, but his stats were dwarfed by those of Ryu Hyun-Jin who became the only player in KBO history to earn both the Rookie of The Year and MVP awards in the same season. After the season, Han made a transition to the bullpen, filling a void as Kia's closer down the stretch. Han had his best KBO season as a closer in 2008 when he was ranked third in the league with 26 saves, posting a 1.71 ERA. He was regarded as an unreliable closer, however, as he didn't overwhelm hitters. During the 2008 Beijing Olympics Baseball tournament in August 2008, Han earned the notoriety of being a "choker", "suspense writer", and subject to many other unflattering nicknames due to his failure to close out games in the late innings. Usually a solid closer for his Pro team, Han blew the lead in the 9th inning of the game against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, then proceeded to make things interesting once again against Japan a few days later before being yanked with runners on 2nd and 3rd. Han was given yet another chance against

Chinese Taipei "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One-China principle stipulated by th ...

, which he also subsequently failed to close. However, Korea won all of the aforementioned games en route to winning the gold medal with a perfect record, although Han was not given the chance to pitch again in the tournament after the game against Chinese Taipei. In May 2009, after blowing four saves within one month with a 6.08 ERA, Han was demoted from his role as Tigers closer, losing the job to

Yoon Suk-Min Yoon Suk-min (Hangul: 윤석민, Hanja: 尹錫珉; born July 24, 1986) is a South Korean former professional baseball pitcher. He bats and throws right-handed. He played for the Kia Tigers of the KBO League from 2005 to 2013, and 2015 to 2019, ...

. After finishing the 2009 season with a record of 4-5 and an ERA of 4.24 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 ...

, he required

Tommy John surgery Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, colloquially known as Tommy John surgery (TJS), is a surgical graft procedure where the ulnar collateral ligament in the medial elbow is replaced with either a tendon from elsewhere in the patient's bo ...

and subsequently missed most of the 2010 season. He suffered injury in 2011, 2012. He just played 28 innings for 2 years. In 2013, he surgery shoulder and rehabilitation 2 years.

Notable international careers

Filmography

Television show

References

External links

Profile and stats on the KBO official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Han, Ki-Joo Baseball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for South Korea Olympic baseball players of South Korea Samsung Lions players KBO League pitchers South Korean baseball players 1987 births Living people Olympic medalists in baseball Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Gwangju