Hyun-soo Kim (; ; born January 12, 1988) 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 leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

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 t ...

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

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 ...

, and has also played in

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) for the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

and Philadelphia Phillies.

Amateur career

Kim attended

Shinil High School Shinil High School is a secondary school in Seoul, South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North ...

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 of ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

. In September 2005, he competed for the South Korea national junior team, that was runner-up at the 6th Asian Junior Baseball Championship in Seoul, South Korea. At the championship, he went 1-for-4 as a backup outfielder in the South Korean roster. In November 2005, Kim won the Lee Yeong-min Award, given annually to the most outstanding high school

hitter In baseball, batting is the act of facing the opposing pitcher and trying to produce offense for one's team. A batter or hitter is a person whose turn it is to face the pitcher. The three main goals of batters are to become a baserunner, to driv ...

in South Korea.

Professional career

Doosan Bears

Upon graduation from high school, Kim made himself eligible for the 2006 KBO First-Year Player Draft, but went undrafted. Instead, he was signed by the

as an undrafted

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

. He spent the whole 2006 season playing for the reserve team of the Bears. In the 2007 season, Kim took over the starting job after starting outfielder Yoo Jae-woong was sidelined with a sprained ankle in the beginning of the season. Kim hit .273 with 5 home runs and 32

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...

in 99 games, and finished runner-up for Rookie of the Year. In the 2008 KBO season, Kim won the batting title with an average of .357 and was first in hits with 168. He finished runner-up in MVP voting and won the Golden Glove Award as an outfielder. In the 2009 KBO season, Kim exploded offensively, batting .357 and smacking 23 home runs. He defended his

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

title with 172, and was runner-up in RBI (104) and triples (6), third 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 ...

, runs (97), doubles (31), on-base percentage (.448) and slugging percentage (.589), and eleventh in

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. On December 11, 2009, he won the KBO Golden Glove Award for outfielder for two consecutive years.

Baltimore Orioles

On December 23, 2015, Kim signed a two-year, $7 million contract with the

. After struggling in spring training, Kim ultimately made the team after refusing a minor league assignment which led to him being booed on Opening Day. On April 10, 2016, Kim played his first career MLB game versus the

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since its inception, the team's home v ...

. In that game he had two hits and scored a run. Kim finished his first month of Major League baseball having played in only six games, but making an impact, going 9-for-15 (.600), driving in one run, scoring two runs, and having an on-base percentage of .647. He hit his First Major League Career home run on May 29, against the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

that broke a 4–4 tie in the 7th inning. On June 30, Kim hit the Orioles' 56th home run in the month of June, setting a new Major League record for the month. On September 25, Kim hit a 2-run home run in the second inning of a game against the

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The ...

. The O's would win the game 2–1, proving his homer to be the game winner. Three days later, on September 28, Kim hit a 2-run home run in the ninth inning of a game against the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

. The Orioles were facing a 2–1 deficit at the time and Kim hit the go ahead, game-winning home run on the ninth pitch of his at-bat. The Orioles would go on to win the game 3–2. Kim ended his 2016 season with a .302 batting average.

Philadelphia Phillies

On July 28, 2017, the Orioles traded Kim and Garrett Cleavinger to the Philadelphia Phillies for

Jeremy Hellickson Jeremy Robert Hellickson (born April 8, 1987) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Tampa Bay Rays, Arizona Diamondbacks, Philadelphia Phillies, Baltimore Orioles, and Washington Na ...

LG Twins

On December 19, 2017, Kim signed a four-year, $10.7 million contract with the

. On December 17, 2021, Kim re-signed with the Twins on a six-year, $9.7 million contract.

International career

In August 2008, Kim competed for the South Korea national baseball team in the 2008 Olympic Games, where they won the gold medal in the baseball tournament. In the preliminary round game against Japan, Kim hit a go-ahead RBI single in the top of the ninth off closer Iwase Hitoki to break a 2–2 tie as a pinch hitter, leading

to a 5–3 win over Japan. In March 2009, Kim competed for the South Korea national baseball team in the

2009 World Baseball Classic The 2009 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an international baseball competition. It began on 5 9 and finished 5 26. Unlike in 2006, when the round-robin format of the first two rounds led to some eliminations being decided by run-difference tie ...

, where they finished runner-up with a 6–3 record. In the tournament, he went 11-for-28 (.393) with 4 RBIs, 6 runs and 7 walks, and was named to the All-Star team at

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 ...

. He played for Korea again in the

2013 World Baseball Classic The 2013 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an international professional baseball competition, held from March 2 to March 19, 2013. This was the third iteration of the WBC, following the two previous tournaments, held in 2006 and 2009. Unlike t ...

, going 3 for 12 in Korea's three games. Kim did not play for South Korea national baseball team in the 2017 World Baseball Classic, instead wanting to focus on getting ready for the 2017 MLB season with the

. In 2018, he represented South Korea at the

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 continental multi-sport event that was held from 18 Augus ...

, helping Korea to win Gold.

Awards and honors

;KBO *2008 KBO Golden Glove Award (Outfielder) *2009 KBO Golden Glove Award (Outfielder) *2010 KBO Golden Glove Award (Outfielder) *2015 KBO Golden Glove Award (Outfielder)

Achievements

;KBO *2008 Batting Title *2008 On-base Percentage Title *2008 Hit Title *2009 Hit Title

References

External links

Career statistics and player information
from Korea Baseball Organization * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Hyun-soo 1988 births Living people Asian Games gold medalists for South Korea Asian Games medalists in baseball Baltimore Orioles players Baseball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Baseball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Baseball players at the 2010 Asian Games Baseball players at the 2014 Asian Games Baseball players at the 2018 Asian Games Baseball players from Seoul Doosan Bears players KBO League outfielders Major League Baseball left fielders Major League Baseball players from South Korea Major League Baseball right fielders Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games Olympic baseball players of South Korea Olympic gold medalists for South Korea Olympic medalists in baseball Philadelphia Phillies players South Korean expatriate baseball players in the United States 2009 World Baseball Classic players 2013 World Baseball Classic players 2015 WBSC Premier12 players