Han Ki-Joo

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This is a Korean name; the family name is Han.

**Han Ki-Joo**
Born: April 29, 1987 (1987-04-29) (age 21)
Kia tigers — No. 10
Closer

Bats: Right	Throws: Right
Korean Professional Baseball debut
April 9, 2006 for the Hanwha Eagles
Selected KBO statistics (through 2007)
Win-Loss	12-14
Saves	26
Earned run average	2.99
Strikeouts	144
Teams
Kia Tigers (2006–present)

Han Ki-Joo (Hangul: 한기주, Hanja: 韓基周) (born April 29, 1987 in Gwangju, South Korea) is a right-handed relief pitcher who plays for the Kia Tigers in Korean professional baseball league.

1 Amateur career
- 1.1 Notable international careers
2 Professional career
- 2.1 Notable international careers
3 References

[edit] Amateur career

Han attended Dongsung High School in Gwangju, South Korea. In 2004, he was selected for the South Korea national junior team that won the bronze medal at the 2004 World Junior Baseball Championship in Taiwan. Han, the youngest player on the South Korean team roster, pitched 7 shutout innings, struck out 12, and allowed only 3 hits to win over Australia in the round-robin.

In 2005, he was selected for the national junior team again, along with Kim Kwang-Hyun and Ryu Hyun-Jin, and participated in the 6th Asian Junior Baseball Championship held in Seoul, South Korea. However, his performance was very disappointing, pitching to a 6.28 ERA in 3 games (1 start).

[edit] Notable international careers

Year	Venue	Competition	Final Result	Note
2004	Chinese Taipei	World Junior Baseball Championship	3rd place	1st in Strikeouts, 1.59 ERA
2005	South Korea	Asian Junior Baseball Championship	2nd place

[edit] Professional career

Han debuted with the 2006 Kia Tigers and finished with 11-10, a 3.26 ERA, and 78 strikeouts in 44 games. As a rookie starter, he had a fine season, but his stats were underrated by the ones of Ryu Hyun-Jin who became the only player in KBO history to win both the Rookie of The Year award and the MVP award in the same season.

After the season, Han made a transition to the bullpen, filling a void as Kia's closer down the stretch.