Sun-bin Kim

Sun-bin Kim (김선빈)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 7", Weight 151 lb.

• High School Hwasun High School

• Born December 18, 1989 in Hwasun South Korea

BR register page

Biographical Information

Sun-bin Kim has played in the Korea Baseball Organization, winning a batting title and a Korean Series MVP.

Kim played for the South Korean squad in the 2007 Asian Junior Championship. He was taken by the KIA Tigers in the 5th round of the 2008 KBO draft. He hit .255/.330/.277 in 2008 with only 5 steals in 14 tries, not an indicator of his usual steal success. At 165 cm tall (5' 7"), he was the shortest player in the KBO at the time. The infielder improved his batting line to .293/.354/.388 in 2009 and was 8-for-10 in swipes, then .293/.362/.353 with 23 stolen bases (caught 7 times) in 2010.

In 2011, Kim hit .290/.380/.373 and stole 22 bases in 31 tries. During 2012, he produced at a .281/.363/.363 clip, swiped 30 bases in 42 attempts, scored 63 runs and drove in 55 runs. He tied Yong-taik Park for 5th in the KBO in stolen bases. He batted .300/.377/.348 in 2013 and stole 28 bases while being caught 14 times. He tied Keun-woo Jeong for 8th in the league in swipes. Battling a hamstring injury in 2014, he hit .290/.313/.333 in 98 plate appearances.

While doing his mandatory military service, he played in the 2015 Asian Championship, splitting shortstop with Ye-il Seo. He went 2 for 13 with a walk, three runs and one RBI with 8 error-free chances for the Gold Medal winners. He returned to the field in 2016 and hit .360/.385/.520 in limited time. Getting back his starting spot in 2017, he did better than he ever had before at .370/.420/.477 with 34 doubles and 84 runs. He edged Kun-woo Park by four points for the batting title. He also tied Jae-hwan Kim for 10th in doubles and was 8th in OBP (between Ah-seop Son and Sung-bum Na). He won a KBO Gold Glove as the league's top overall shortstop. He helped his team win the 2017 Korean Series.

Fading to .295/.373/.373 in 2018, the KIA shortstop posted a .292/.360/.371 line in 2019 then improved to .330/.406/.403 in 2020 while moving to second base; had he qualified, he would've been in the top ten in average. In 2021, he rapped 32 doubles while hitting .307/.375/.401. He was 9th in average (between José Miguel Fernandez and Chi-hong An) and 4th in doubles (between Baek-ho Kang and Kun-woo Park). The next year, the veteran was at .287/.373/.351 and went 13-for-15 in steal attempts, his most swipes in nine years. He was 8th with 65 walks. He hit .320/.381/.358 in 2023 and was 6th in average, between Guillermo Heredia and Kun-woo Park. Hye-seong Kim was named the league's best second baseman, though.

Kim produced at a .329/.380/.447 clip in 2024, 8th in average between Mel Rojas Jr. and Min-woo Park. He then dazzled in the 2024 Korean Series, going 10-for-17 as KIA won the title. He edged teammate Tae-gun Kim for the Korean Series MVP, 46 votes to 45.

Sources

• KBO page
• Asian Baseball Federation
• Korean Wikipedia
• Yonhap News Agency