Kim Seong-yoon (also transliterated as Kim Sung-yoon, born February 2, 1999) is a South Korean professional baseball outfielder for the Samsung Lions of the KBO League. At 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m), he over-took Kim Sun-bin of Kia Tigers, who stands at 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m), to be the shortest player in the KBO when he debuted for the Lions in 2017. He is 4 in (20 cm) shorter than the average players in KBO and tied with Daichi Mizuguchi of Seibu Lions to be the shortest among Major League Baseball (MLB), Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and KBO players.[1][2] In 2020, Kim was joined by fellow Samsung Lions second baseman Kim Ji-chan, who also stands at 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m).[3]
| Kim Jeong-yoon | |
|---|---|
| Samsung Lions – No. 39 | |
| Outfielder | |
| Born: February 2, 1999 | |
Bats: Left Throws: Left | |
| KBO debut | |
| 2017, for the Samsung Lions | |
| KBO statistics (through May 14, 2024) | |
| Batting average | .270 |
| Home runs | 4 |
| Runs batted in | 40 |
| Teams | |
| |
| Kim Seong-yoon | |
| Hangul | 김성윤 |
|---|---|
| Hanja | |
| Revised Romanization | Kim Seongyun |
| McCune–Reischauer | Kim Sŏngyun |
Career
editSamsung Lions
editKim joined the Samsung Lions as a fourth round, 39th overall draft pick in 2017,[4] right after graduating from Posco High School.[5] In his sixth KBO game, against the SK Wyverns, Kim hit a two-run home run despite never hitting any home run in his high school career.[1][6]
In 2023, he had a career-high batting average of .314 and 18 steals.[7]
International
editKim appeared in six baseball contests during the 2022 Asian Games, batting .222/.278/.333 in 18 at-bats, and winning a gold medal for South Korea.[8]
References
edit- ^ a b "Baseball's shortest players stand tall". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 2020-05-08.
- ^ "Diminutive hitter chasing elusive .400 batting average". The Korea Herald. 2017-08-18. Retrieved 2020-05-08.
- ^ "KBO Officially Has its Own Aaron Judge and Jose Altuve". 12up.com. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
- ^ "Kim Sung-yoon KBO League Batting Stats - Samsung Lions". MyKBO Stats. Retrieved 2020-08-11.
- ^ "Shortest player in Korean baseball focusing on strengths". The Korea Herald. 2017-06-08. Retrieved 2020-05-08.
- ^ "Shortest player in KBO history revives his Middle School baseball program". wbsc.org. Retrieved 2020-05-08.
- ^ "Korean baseball team replaces 2 injured players". The Korea Times. 2023-09-21. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
- ^ "KIM Seongyoon". World Baseball Softball Confederation Asia. Retrieved 4 February 2024.