As a former stolen base king himself, new Kia Tigers manager Kim Jong-kook would like to see more thieveries from his players going forward. Kim, having been a coach with the Tigers for a decade before being named skipper on Sunday, knows as well as anyone that the Tigers aren't going to slug their way to prominence. But it could be a different story when it comes to stealing bags, Kim said. "Objectively speaking, we're not much of a power-hitting club, but we can be competitive with our

The Kia Tigers announced coach Kim Jong-kook will be the new manager of the South Korean baseball club Sunday. Kim signed a three-year contract for the post for a signing bonus of 300 million won ($253,000) and an annual salary of 250 million won. Kim is nicknamed the "Tigers' one club man," having played all of his 14 seasons with the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) team, starting in 1996. Mostly as a second baseman, he played 1,359 KBO games with a batting average of .247 and 6

Davidson junior may be just one promising NCAA player in the pack, but Koreans have high hopes

South Korean big league first baseman Choi Ji-man has signed a new one-year contract to stay with the Tampa Bay Rays. MLB.com reported that Choi agreed to a $3.2 million deal Tuesday (US time), avoiding salary arbitration for the second straight offseason. Choi, not yet eligible for free agency, earned $2.45 million in 2021 after winning his first arbitration case. Choi, 30, made his major league debut with the Los Angeles Angels in 2016. He bounced around for a bit before thriving as a full-

Former MVPs and major league players are among 14 free agents in South Korean baseball this winter. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced Thursday 14 out of 19 players eligible for free agency had decided to exercise their rights. Those 14 are free to sign deals starting Friday. The 2018 regular season MVP Kim Jae-hwan is entering the open market for the first time at age 33 after 14 years with the Doosan Bears. Kim had 27 home runs and 102 RBIs – the fifth time in the past six

Having dug themselves into an early hole in the Korean Series, the Doosan Bears will now turn to their best starter from the regular season. The Bears have dropped the first two games of the best-of-seven set against the KT Wiz. They will have left-hander Ariel Miranda start Game 3 when the series resumes at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul. But it will be a much different version of Miranda than the one the Bears saw during an MVP-worthy regular season. This will be the first

Entering this year's Korean Series against the Doosan Bears, the KT Wiz only carried two players with prior experience in the South Korean baseball championship stage. One was 40-year-old designated hitter Yoo Han-joon, who'd played in one in 2014. The other was backup catcher Hur Do-hwan, who'd only been a part-time player in the 2014 and 2018 Korean Series. Compare that to the Bears, who are playing in their seventh consecutive Korean Series. Other than rookies, virtually everyone has some e

Errors aren't always the most accurate measure of defense in baseball, but untimely miscues on the field can come bite a team when they least expect them. Just ask the Doosan Bears, whose defense failed them in an opening 4-2 loss to the KT Wiz in the Korean Series on Sunday. Three of the Wiz's runs were unearned, having been a direct result of fielding errors that preceded them. The Bears committed two errors. First, third baseman Heo Kyoung-min, one of the better defenders at the hot corner

If there's anything that KT Wiz skipper Lee Kang-chul learned last year managing in his first postseason, it's that he shouldn't mess with what got him there in the first place. The Wiz got knocked out of the penultimate round in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason in 2020, losing to the Doosan Bears in four games. This year, the Wiz have taken an extra step, earning a bye to the Korean Series as the regular season champions. And once again, the Wiz will face the Bears, which, aft

Though he will be facing the same opponents that eliminated his team from the postseason last year, KT Wiz right-hander So Hyeong-jun won't be out to get his revenge. "All I am thinking about is winning our first championship," So told reporters Sunday before Game 1 of the Korean Series against the Doosan Bears at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul. "It just happened that we'll be playing the Bears again, and I know my teammates and our fans have talked about avenging our loss from last y

As he was watching his Doosan Bears teammates battle through postseason games this month, the competitor in the team's Cuban ace Ariel Miranda was itching to get going and join them on the field. Miranda missed time at the end of the regular season in late October and then the early portion of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason this month with shoulder fatigue. But instead of leaving South Korea for rehab and treatment, Miranda stayed with the club, healing and hoping that his tea

The KT Wiz will be playing in the South Korean baseball championship series for the first time starting Sunday, and their manager Lee Kang-chul believes it could be a short series in his club's favor against the Doosan Bears.    At Saturday's media day press conference ahead of the Korean Series, Lee said his club may even pull off a four-game sweep in the best-of-seven series.    "If we can grab the early momentum, then I think a 4-0 series win is possible," Lee

Doosan Bears' left-hander Ariel Miranda has been named South Korean baseball's top player for October, the month in which he also set an all-time strikeout record for a season. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced Tuesday that the Cuban ace beat five other candidates for the Player of the Month honor for the final month of the regular season. Miranda earned 15 out of 32 votes from media, and 144,942 out of 277,106 online votes cast by fans. He went 2-0 in five October starts and re

Two old rivals in South Korean baseball will reacquaint themselves with each other in the penultimate stage of the postseason starting Tuesday. The Samsung Lions will host the Doosan Bears in Game 1 of the best-of-three second round at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in Daegu, some 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul. The second game will be at the Bears' home in Seoul, Jamsil Baseball Stadium, at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. If the series goes the distance, Game 3 will be back in Daegu at

At the 2017 rookie draft in South Korean baseball, Moon Sung-ju was selected 97th overall by the LG Twins, with only three players coming after him. Few would have given Moon any chance of even making it to the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), let alone thriving in the league. But here he is in November 2021, wielding a hot bat for the Twins in a postseason series against their Seoul rivals, Doosan Bears. In two games in the first round, all tied at one game apiece, Moon has batted 3-for-7 w