Yoo Han-joon (

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 ...

: 유한준,

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 ...

: 柳漢俊) (born July 1, 1981 in

Gunpo Gunpo (군포; ), formerly romanized as Kunp'o, is a small city in South Korea's Gyeonggi Province, located south of Seoul in the Seoul National Capital Area. It borders Anyang to the north, Uiwang to the east, and Ansan to the south and west, and ...

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 ...

) is a retired South Korean

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 ...

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 ...

in the

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 ...

. He bats and throws

right-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 Yushin High School, Yoo was drafted by the

Hyundai Unicorns The Hyundai Unicorns () were a South Korean professional baseball team based in Suwon. They were a member of the KBO League. The Unicorns won the KBO championship four times (1998, 2000, 2003 and 2004). The Unicorns were dissolved after the 20 ...

in the second round (20th overall) of the 2000 KBO Draft. Yoo did not sign with them; instead he opted for college, attending

Dongguk University Dongguk University (Korean: 동국대학교, Hanja: 東國大學校) is a private, coeducational university in South Korea, fundamentally based on Buddhism. Established in 1906 as Myeongjin School (명진학교; 明進學校) by Buddhist pioneers ...

. Yoo was a four-year starting

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

for Dongguk University from -. As a junior in , Yoo was selected for the South Korean national team in the Intercontinental Cup held in

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

, where he played mostly as a backup third baseman behind

Hanwha Eagles The Hanwha Eagles ( ko, 한화 이글스) are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Daejeon. They are a member of the KBO League. The Eagles' home ballpark is Daejeon Hanbat Baseball Stadium. The Eagles have won the Korean Series on ...

star

Lee Bum-Ho Lee Bum-ho (; Hanja: 李杋浩; born November 25, 1981) is a South Korean former third baseman who played primarily in the KBO League. He bats and throws right-handed. Lee is considered one of the best defensive third basemen in the KBO league ...

Notable international careers

Professional career

In , Yoo made his KBO pro league debut in the

. The Unicorns assigned him to the Unicorns second team for the 2004 season. Yoo was promoted to the first team in the season but only batted .192 with 5 hits in 26 at-bats in 18 games. After the 2005 season, Yoo converted his position to third baseman to outfielder. In , his first season as an outfielder, Yoo became a fixture in

right field 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 ...

of the Unicorns. In , Yoo hit .223 with 5 home runs and 35 RBI for the Unicorns. He missed the next two years due to military service. In , Yoo returned to baseball with the

Nexen Heroes The Kiwoom Heroes () are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Seoul. They are a member of the KBO League. The Heroes play their home games at Gocheok Sky Dome in Gocheok-dong, a neighborhood located in the southwestern part of Se ...

. On May 19, Yoo gained notability with his performance against 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 ...

, tying the all-time single-game record for RBI. In that game, he drove in 8 runs, going 5-for-6 with 2 home runs. As a consistent full-time outfielder, Yoo finished the season with career-bests in all offensive categories, ranked 4th in the KBO league in at-bats (481), 7th in hits (140), 8th in doubles (27), 12th in RBI (79) and 22nd in batting average (.291). After the 2010 season, Yoo 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 ...

to compete in the Intercontinental Cup held in

Taichung Taichung (, Wade–Giles: ''Tʻai²-chung¹'', pinyin: ''Táizhōng''), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality located in central Taiwan. Taichung has approximately 2.8 million residents and is the second most populous city of Taiw ...

. In 2021, Yoo retired from professional baseball.

Notable international careers

References

External links

Profile and stats on the KBO official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yoo, Han-joon Kiwoom Heroes players KT Wiz players Hyundai Unicorns players KBO League outfielders South Korean baseball players 1981 births Living people People from Gunpo Sportspeople from Gyeonggi Province