Kang Baek-ho (; born July 29, 1999) 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 ...

left fielder In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...

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 off ...

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

Kang began playing baseball in elementary school but had to move between schools several times as a youth due to "a family issue" which he told ''

Ilgan Sports ''Ilgan Sports'' ( ko, 일간스포츠; ''The Daily Sports'' or ''1S'' for short) is a South Korean daily sports and entertainment newspaper founded in 1969. Formerly under ''Hankook Ilbo'', it is now owned by the ''JoongAng Ilbo, JoongAng Media ...

'' was "hard to talk about." Kang played

high school baseball High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift to ...

as a

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 ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

Seoul High School Seoul High School (Hangul: 서울고등학교) is a public high school located in Seocho-dong, the greater Gangnam area Seocho-gu, Seoul, South Korea. Seoul High School is a member school of Gangnam School District Eight (강남8학군). History ...

where, as a freshman, he was the first player to hit a home run at

Gocheok Sky Dome The Gocheok Sky Dome () is a domed baseball stadium located in Gocheok-dong, Seoul, South Korea. It is the home ballpark of KBO League, KBO club Kiwoom Heroes. The stadium is primarily used for baseball and has a capacity for 16,744 spectators fo ...

. In 2017, he led Seoul to a high school baseball championship and was named the

most valuable player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

of the tournament. Kang's accomplishments as a high schooler brought him significant media attention. After high school, Kang decided to enter the KBO against the wishes of his father who wanted him to try for "a bigger stage."

Professional career

Kang was selected with the first overall pick in the 2017 KBO draft by the KT Wiz. He made his KBO debut at 18 years old and hit a home run against

Héctor Noesí Héctor Noesí (; born January 26, 1987) is a Dominican professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox, and Miami Mar ...

in the first

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 ...

of his career. As a professional, he stopped pitching and catching and transitioned to the field. Kang set the

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

record with 29

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s en route to winning the

KBO League Rookie of the Year Award The KBO League Rookie of the Year Award is given to the player judged the best first-year player in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) League. The most recent winner is Lee Jung-hoo of the Nexen Heroes The Kiwoom Heroes () are a South Korea ...

. He pitched in the 2018 KBO All-Star Game and reached speeds of . Following the season, his salary was more than tripled to

₩ The won sign , is a currency symbol. It represents the South Korean won, the North Korean won and, unofficially, the old Korean won. Appearance Its appearance is "W" (the first letter of "Won") with a horizontal strike going through the cen ...

120 million (equivalent to $ in 2019), setting a record for a sophomore player. In June 2019, Kang underwent surgery on his hand after cutting it on a piece of metal while making a catch in foul territory at

Busan Sajik Baseball Stadium The Busan Sajik Baseball Stadium is a baseball stadium in Sajik-dong, Dongnae-gu, Busan, South Korea. It was built in 1985 and is the home stadium of KBO club Lotte Giants. It has a seating capacity of 24,500. It is known as a mecca for Korean ba ...

. He sat out for the entire month of July due to the injury but was voted a starter on the all-star team nonetheless. Kang missed three weeks of the 2020 season after hurting his wrist while sliding on defense. Fans voted Kang to the all-star team again in 2020 although the game did not take place due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. At the halfway point of the 2021 season, Kang had a batting average of .395 which led the league by 47 points. He reached base in eight consecutive

s in Games 1 and 2 of the

2021 Korean Series The 2021 Korean Series is the championship series of the 2021 KBO League season. All games in the best-of-seven series were held at the Gocheok Sky Dome due to the cold weather. The KT Wiz won the series over the Doosan Bears, 4–0. Park Kyung-s ...

, tying a Korean Series record.

International career

Kang 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

2017 U-18 Baseball World Cup The 2017 U-18 Baseball World Cup or the XXVIII U-18 Baseball World Cup was an international baseball tournament held by the World Baseball Softball Confederation for players 18-year-old and younger. The 2017 edition was held in Thunder Bay, Canad ...

where he pitched and played the field. He won a silver medal and was named to the All-World Team. In 2019, he represented South Korea in the

Premier12 The WBSC Premier12 is the international baseball tournament organized by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), featuring the 12 highest-ranked national baseball teams in the world. The first tournament was held by Taiwan and Japan i ...

and played well. He was named to the South Korean roster for the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kang, Baek-ho 1999 births Living people KBO League outfielders South Korean baseball players Baseball players from Seoul KBO League Rookie of the Year Award winners Seoul High School alumni KT Wiz players 2019 WBSC Premier12 players Baseball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic baseball players of South Korea