Yong-kyu Lee
From BR Bullpen
Yong-kyu Lee
- Bats Left, Throws Left
- Height 5' 9", Weight 154 lb.
Yong-kyu Lee is a young outfielder noted as a contact hitter and speedster.
Lee debuted in the Korea Baseball Organization in 2004 with the LG Twins, going just 8 for 62 with 6 walks and a .145 slugging percentage. Moving to the KIA Tigers in 2005, he hit .266/~.342/.353 with 31 steals. The next season, he batted .318/~.392/.412 with 38 swipes and won a KBO Gold Glove Award as one of the three best overall outfielders in South Korea. In 2007, Lee hit .280/~.346/.355 with 17 steals. Lee hit .400/.500/.560 for South Korea for the 2008 Final Olympic Qualification Tournament with 11 runs in 7 games, playing right field primarily. He led the competition in runs scored and was 8th in average.
In the 2008 Olympics, Lee batted .481/.531/.556 with 8 runs in 9 games; he finished second to Alexei Bell in average. He led the Gold Medal winners in average and was second to Dae-ho Lee in OPS. He alternated between right field (6 games) and left field (3 games) in the tournament as Korea went 9-0. He was at the plate for 3 of South Korea's 7 runs in their first win against Cuba, delivering a RBI single and hitting into a 2-base error by Norberto González. Lee was 4 for 4 in a win over the Dutch national team. He scored twice in a 6-2 win over Japan. In the Gold Medal game, he doubled off of Pedro Luis Lazo to bring in Jin-man Park for South Korea's third and final run in a 3-2 win over Cuba.
