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Ko Young-min

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Ko Young-min
Ko with the Doosan Bears in 2020
Lotte Giants – No. 90
Second baseman / Coach
Born: (1984-02-08) February 8, 1984 (age 40)
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
KBO debut
May 4, 2002, for the Doosan Bears
Last appearance
September 2, 2016, for the Doosan Bears
KBO statistics
Batting average.252
Home runs46
Runs batted in292
Teams
Medals
Men's baseball
Olympics
Gold medal – first place 2008 Beijing Team
World Baseball Classic
Silver medal – second place 2009 Los Angeles Team

Ko Young-min (Korean고영민; Hanja高永民; born February 8, 1984) is a retired South Korean second baseman who played for the Doosan Bears in the Korea Baseball Organization between 2002 and 2016. He batted and threw right-handed.

Professional career

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Upon graduation from Seongnam High School, Ko was drafted by the Doosan Bears in the second round (17th overall) of the 2002 KBO Draft. He had several mediocre season, spending most of his time in the reserve team of the Bears.

In 2006, Ko became a fixture in second base for the Bears as veteran second baseman Ahn Kyung-hyun moved to first base due to deteriorating health. Ko batted a career-high .270 with 85 hits, 29 RBIs, a career-high 5 triples, and 14 stolen bases, appearing 116 games as a starting second baseman.

In 2007, Ko batted .268, compiling a career-high 12 home runs, 119 hits and 66 RBIs while appearing all 126 regular-season games. He led the KBO league in runs (89), and 3rd in stolen bases (36). After the season, he won his first Golden Glove Award at second base.

In 2008, Ko batted .267 with a career-high 70 RBIs, 114 hits, 84 runs, 39 stolen bases and 9 home runs. He led the KBO league in walks (74), and ranked 3rd in runs, 4th in stolen bases and 13th in RBI.

In August 2008, Ko competed for the South Korea national baseball team in the 2008 Summer Olympics, where they won the gold medal in the baseball tournament. Ko's big hit in the Olympics was a three-run homer off of Yang Chien-fu in the 8–7 Korean win over Chinese Taipei.

Prior to the 2009 KBO season, Ko participated in the 2009 World Baseball Classic in March 2009. In the WBC, he batted .308 with 4 hit in 13 at-bats, sharing the starting second base position with Jeong Keun-woo. In Round 2, Ko smacked a solo home run off New York Mets starter Óliver Pérez in the bottom of the 5th inning to lead his team to an 8–2 victory over Mexico.

Career stats

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Year Team Pos G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB SB CS SH BB HBP K GIDP E AVG OBP SLG OPS
2002 Doosan 2B 16 10 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 .100 .100 .100 .200
2003 2B 32 13 2 3 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 .231 .231 .231 .462
2005 2B 16 17 2 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 9 0 0 .118 .167 .118 .285
2006 2B 116 315 38 85 15 5 2 29 116 14 10 8 24 12 59 6 11 .270 .337 .368 .705
2007 2B 126 444 89 119 29 1 12 66 186 36 10 14 61 17 105 9 9 .268 .368 .419 .787
2008 2B 126 427 84 114 15 3 9 70 162 39 9 13 74 14 109 10 9 .267 .383 .379 .762
2009 2B 85 281 59 66 11 3 6 29 101 12 4 4 33 13 76 3 6 .235 .339 .359 .689
Total 2B 432 1226 216 324 59 9 23 166 470 91 30 35 159 44 286 25 30 .264 .360 .383 .743

Bold = led KBO

Notable international careers

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Year Venue Competition Team Individual Note
2007  Chinese Taipei Asian Baseball Championship .462 BA (6-for-13), 2 HR, 5 RBI, 6 R
2008  Chinese Taipei Final Olympic Qualification Tournament .368 BA (7-for-19), 4 RBI, 10 R
2008  China Olympic Games .208 BA (5-for-24), 1 HR, 3 RBI, 6 R
2009  United States World Baseball Classic .308 BA (4-for-13), 1 HR, 1 RBI, 4 R
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