Lee Tae-won

This is a Korean name; the family name is Lee.
Lee Tae-Won
NC Dinos – No. 43
Catcher
Born: March 17, 1986
Bats: Right Throws: Right
Professional debut
KBO: April 24, 2013 for the NC Dinos
KBO statistics
(through 2013 season)
Batting average .146
Home runs 0
RBI 4
Teams
Lee Tae-won
Hangul 이태원
Hanja 李泰源
Revised Romanization I Tae-won
McCune–Reischauer Yi T'ae-wŏn

Lee Tae-Won (Hangul: 이태원, Hanja: 李泰元) (born March 17, 1986 in Seoul, South Korea) is a South Korean catcher for the NC Dinos in the Korea Baseball Organization. He bats and throws right-handed.

Amateur career

Lee played baseball at Choongam High School in Seoul from 2002 to 2004. Prior to graduation, he was selected in the 2nd round (47th overall) of the 2005 KBO Draft by the LG Twins, which was the second-highest pick as a high school catcher. Although Lee was willing to play in the KBO without going to college, his mother opposed his decision strongly, and that conflict led him to give up baseball temporarily.

After sitting out the whole 2005 season, Lee eventually came back in 2006, deciding to play college baseball at Dongguk University. During his four-year college years, Lee was recognized as one of the best amateur catchers nationwide, becoming a fixture in the team's starting lineup in his freshman year and helping his team to win the national championship twice (in 2006 and 2008).

Lee made his first appearance on the international stage when he was selected for the South Korea national baseball team that would play in the 2006 Intercontinental Cup. In 2009 Lee was called up to the South Korean national team and competed in the Asian Baseball Championship where he was named to the All-Star team, playing in all the games as a starting catcher and batting a team-leading .556.

Notable international careers

 Year  Venue Competition  Team  Individual Note
 2006   Philippines  Intercontinental Cup 7th  2 doubles
 2008   Czech Republic   World University Baseball Championship  4th .182 BA (4-for-22), 3 RBI, 3 R
 2009   Japan  Asian Baseball Championship .556 BA (5-for-9), 1 RBI, 3 R, 2 BB, 1 SB 
All-Star (C)

Professional career

Lee was selected in the 5th round (33rd overall) of the 2010 KBO Draft by the LG Twins. In the 2010 season, Lee played with the Twins' second-tier team but received criticism after batting below .200 and making critical errors behind the plate. After the 2010 season, Lee join the Sangmu Baseball Team to do two-year mandatory military service.

External links