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 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 ...

Amateur career

Kim attended Ansan Technical High School in

Ansan Ansan (Hangeul: , ) is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. It lies southwest of Seoul and is part of the Seoul National Capital Area. It is connected to Seoul by rail via Seoul Subway Line 4. It is situated on the Yellow Sea coast and so ...

Gyeonggi-do Gyeonggi-do (, ) is the most populous province in South Korea. Its name, ''Gyeonggi'', means "京 (the capital) and 畿 (the surrounding area)". Thus, ''Gyeonggi-do'' can be translated as "Seoul and the surrounding areas of Seoul". Seoul, the na ...

, South Korea. In 2004, he led his team to the first national championship ever, pitching four-consecutive complete game victories in the tournament with a 0.96 ERA, and was named MVP.

Professional career

SK Wyverns (2007–2019)

Signed by the

, Kim made his professional debut on April 10, 2007. He was in the Wyverns' starting pitching rotation for most of the 2007 KBO League season. Although his performance was inconsistent, he showed signs of promise as a rookie, including pitching a one-hit victory in 7 innings over the Doosan Bears, facing MVP Daniel Rios in the

2007 Korean Series The 2007 Korean Series began on Monday, 22 October, at the Munhak Baseball Stadium in Incheon. It featured the SK Wyverns, who had claimed home ground advantage by finishing in first place at the end of the season, and the Doosan Bears, who had ...

. In the 2008 season, Kim had a career year. He went 16–4 with a 2.39 ERA and 150 strikeouts in 162 innings pitched. Kim ended the season as the KBO League leader for both wins and strikeouts.기록실 , 기록 , KBO

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 ...

. Retrieved December 20, 2019. On August 2, 2009, Kim was hit with a batted ball hit by Kim Hyun-soo when he had one of the worst pitching performances in his KBO League career, allowing 4 runs in just 2 innings against the Doosan Bears. He suffered a

fracture Fracture is the separation of an object or material into two or more pieces under the action of stress. The fracture of a solid usually occurs due to the development of certain displacement discontinuity surfaces within the solid. If a displa ...

on the back of his

hand A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the koala (which has two opposable thumbs on each "h ...

and he was out for the season as the result. However, he won the 2009 ERA title, pitching 138.1 innings which enabled him enough to qualify for the ERA title. On November 4, 2014, Kim was posted to MLB. The San Diego Padres won the bidding with a bid of $2 million. However, contract negotiations ended without an agreement and Kim returned to the SK Wyverns. For the 2019 season, Kim went 17–6 with a 2.51 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP over 190.1 innings.

St. Louis Cardinals (2020–2021)

On December 17, 2019, Kim signed a two-year contract worth $11 million (combined option $3 million) with the St. Louis Cardinals. The SK Wyverns received a $1.6 million posting fee. When the start of the

2020 Major League Baseball season The 2020 Major League Baseball season began on July 23 and ended on September 27 with only 60 games amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The full 162-game regular season was planned to begin on March 26, but the pandemic caused Major League Baseball (ML ...

was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Kim considered returning to Korea to be with his family. He was convinced, however, by Cardinals teammate Adam Wainwright to stay in the United States with the Cardinals. On July 24, 2020, Kim made his MLB debut against the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

, allowing 1 earned run over 1 inning of work. On August 22, he earned his 1st MLB win. Kim finished his first MLB season with a 3–0 record, 24 strikeouts and a 1.62 ERA. In 2021, Kim appeared in 27 games (21 starts) and posted a 7–7 record with a 3.46 ERA, 80 strikeouts and 39 walks in innings. He became a free agent following the season.

SSG Landers

On March 7, 2022, Kim signed a 4-year, $12.3M contract with the SSG Landers, returning to the KBO.

Awards and honors

*2008 KBO MVP *2008 Golden Glove Award (Pitcher)

Achievements

*2008

Wins WINS may refer to: *WINS (AM), an all-news radio station in New York City *WINS-FM, a radio station in New York City *World Institute for Nuclear Security *Windows Internet Name Service *WINS (solution stack), a set of software subsystems *Wireles ...

Title *2008

Strikeout 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 ...

s Title *2009 ERA Title *2009 Winning Percentage Leader *2010

Title

International career

In 2005, Kim was selected for the South Korea national junior team that was runner-up at the 6th Asian Junior Baseball Championship in Seoul, South Korea. He earned two wins 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 ...

, and pitched a five-inning

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...

against

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. In 2006, Kim competed for the South Korea national junior team in the 22nd World Junior Baseball Championship in Havana, Cuba. He led his team to the gold medal, earning four of South Korea's six wins. Kim tossed a five-hit

complete game In baseball, a complete game (CG) is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher. A pitcher who meets this criterion will be credited with a complete game regardless of the number of innings played—pitche ...

shutout to lead South Korea to a 1–0 victory over

in the quarterfinals, and pitched two wins over Canada in the semifinals and USA in the final. He posted a solid 0.87 ERA and 22 strikeouts throughout the tournament, and was named the Most Valuable Player. In January 2008, Kim was selected for 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 participated in the Beijing Olympic Qualification Final Tournament held from March 7 through March 14, 2008 in Taichung, Taiwan. There he helped his team win a spot in the Beijing Summer Olympics by starting two times and going 2–0 with a 1.64 ERA. At the

2008 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 Na ...

, Kim contributed to his team's victories as results of 1–0 with a 1.26 ERA and 12 strike outs in 3 games. In the semifinal game against

, he gave up one earned run and six hits in eight innings for Korea to get the victory. Kim did not allow a runner past first base after the 3rd inning, when Japan scored on a walk, a sacrifice and a single by Norichika Aoki. In March 2009, Kim competed for the

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 ti ...

, where they finished runner-up. He started against

in South Korea's first game in Tokyo,

, but suffered one of his worst games, giving up eight runs in just 1.1 innings of a 14–2 loss to Japan. Kim couldn't get over the disastrous start in Tokyo, struggling in the exhibition games against MLB teams before the start of Round 2. Command of his pitches became a trouble spot, and Team Korea manager Kim In-sik pitched him in relief until the end of the competition.

Pitching style

With an overhand delivery, Kim pitches a fastball averaging 91–92 mph (tops out at 96 mph) as a starter. His slider is considered above-average and usually sits around 85 mph. He also has a curveball and a forkball. When Kim was young, he struggled with his control and command. However, in 2018, he had improved his control and also his command.

References

External links

Career statistics and player information
from

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Kwang-hyun 1988 births Living people Asian Games gold medalists for South Korea Asian Games medalists in baseball Baseball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Baseball players at the 2014 Asian Games Baseball players from Seoul KBO League Most Valuable Player Award winners KBO League pitchers Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball players from South Korea Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Olympic baseball players of South Korea Olympic gold medalists for South Korea Olympic medalists in baseball SSG Landers players South Korean expatriate baseball players in the United States St. Louis Cardinals players 2009 World Baseball Classic players 2015 WBSC Premier12 players 2019 WBSC Premier12 players