Kim Jong-ho (

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 ...

: 김종호; born May 31, 1984, 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 ...

) is an

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 cat ...

who plays for the

NC Dinos The NC Dinos ( ko, NC 다이노스) are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Changwon. They are a member of the KBO League. Since 2019, their home stadium is Changwon NC Park. NC Dinos are owned by video game developer NCSoft Corpo ...

in the South Korean professional baseball league. He bats and throws

left-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 ...

Amateur career

After graduating from Paichai High School in Seoul, Kim went undrafted in the 2003 KBO Amateur Draft. Instead, he entered

Konkuk University Konkuk University () is a South Korean private university founded in 1946. The university was founded based on three virtues: sincerity, fidelity, and righteousness. Konkuk University gives comprehensive education in agricultural and life scien ...

to play college baseball. As a freshman in 2003, Kim became a member of the team to win the Fall League of the National Collegiate Championship as the

leadoff hitter In baseball, a leadoff hitter is a batter who bats first in the lineup. It can also refer to any batter who bats first in any inning. Strategy Traditionally, the leadoff hitter has been utilized as a contact-oriented position. The leadoff hit ...

. In his sophomore and junior years at Konkuk University Kim led his team to two consecutive runner-up finishes at the National Amateur Championship alongside future KBO star Jeon Jun-woo, winning the batting title in 2004 and the RBI title in 2005. As a senior in 2006, Kim got his first call-up to 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 ...

and competed in the team's three friendly baseball matches against the

USA national baseball team The United States national baseball team represents the United States in international-level baseball competitions. The team is currently ranked 5th in the world by the World Baseball Softball Confederation. Team USA won the Olympic baseball to ...

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

. He went 1-for-5 during the series, hitting a single off future

MLB 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 ...

Daniel Moskos Daniel Ross Moskos (born April 28, 1986) is an American former Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2011, and is currently the assistant pitching coach for the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball ...

in Game 3.

Notable international careers

Professional career

Samsung Lions

Kim was selected by 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 ...

with the 39th overall pick of the KBO Draft. However, Kim spent his whole rookie season in the Lions' second team playing in the

Futures League The Toyota Second XI or Futures League is the Australian national second XI cricket competition. Run by Cricket Australia, it is part of its development program and includes the various state and territory second XI teams, from the 2009–10 se ...

. After the 2007 season, Kim left the Lions to serve a two-year mandatory military commitment. Kim came back to the Lions in . Although Kim was ranked first in RBI,

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

s and

triple Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a " treble": Sports * Triple (baseball), a three-base hit * A basketball three-point field goal * A figure skating jump with three rotations * In bowling terms, three strikes in a row * ...

s, and fourth 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 ...

and

stealing bases In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

in the 2010 Futures League, winning the Futures League All-Star Game MVP, he was never promoted to the first team during the entire 2010 season. Kim was eventually called up to the Lions' first team for the first time on August 26, . He made his KBO league debut on August 27, inserted as a

pinch runner In baseball, a pinch runner is a player substituted for the specific purpose of replacing another player on base. The pinch runner may be faster or otherwise more skilled at base-running than the player for whom the pinch runner has been sub ...

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 ...

. After being hitless in one

at-bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a bat ...

in another game, Kim was demoted to the second team again. Kim played in 22 games for the Lions' first team in the KBO league. He was primarily used as a pinch runner, but also played as a substitute

right fielder A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the ...

. Kim finished the season with a .250 batting average, having 12 at-bats and one stolen base.

NC Dinos

The KBO Expansion Draft for the newly founded

was held after the 2012 season. Kim was picked up in the expansion draft by the Dinos and became the Dinos' inaugural leadoff hitter.

External links

Career statistics and player information
from

Korea Baseball Organization The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO; ko, 한국야구위원회) is the governing body for the professional leagues of baseball in South Korea. The KBO was founded in 1981 and has governed two leagues: the KBO League ( ko, KBO 리그) and KBO ...

Kim Jong-ho
at NC Dinos Baseball Club {{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Jong-ho NC Dinos players Samsung Lions players KBO League outfielders South Korean baseball players Konkuk University alumni Baseball players from Seoul 1984 births Living people