Samsung Lions Kim Han-soo Less Flamboyant But Steady

˝They have a strong lineup.˝ Coaches with professional baseball clubs often say so when they face with Samsung Lions. It is not easy to defeat last year`s champion, which boasts a slugger trio of Lee Seung-yeop, Ma Hae-young and Yang Joon-hyok. The trio is not the only threat to the coaches, however.

They see 32-year-old Kim Han-soo as more threatening. He keeps low profile, but serves as a linchpin that connects leading sluggers and smaller hitters. When an opponent just breathes a sigh after dealing with the three sluggers, Kim deals a blow with a big hit.

He did just that in a match with LG Twins on Aug. 25. The sixth hitter made a hit in the nick of time, scoring points for his team. In the 3rd inning, after Lee and Ma were out and Yang made a hit, Kim sent the ball away and advanced to the third stop. With the day`s big hit, in fact, Kim set a new record of hitting three digits for the seventh consecutive year since 1997.

Kim has set a series of records – he has been in 1,014 matches, hit 104 homeruns, made 1,066 hits and scored 528 points. It has been ten years since he made a pro debut in 1994, but he was not able to play in 1995 and 1996, serving his military duty. And the records are impressive given he has been in the league for only eight years.

He is neither a top hitter like Lee Seung-yeop nor a flamboyant player like Yang Joon-hyok, but he is a steady and hardworking player. He looks uncharacteristic, but he is known for preciseness.

He had maintained about 0.4 hitting average through the end of July 1999. Although he finished the season on the fourth at 0.340, he was widely recognized as big hitter. He is a stable third-base man, as well. He made only four errors during the 1999 season. He is like precious metal for the coaching staff.

Kim now aims to maintain 0.3 hitting average for the third consecutive year. “It hardly carries significance to set a homerun or hit goal. We have the league`s top hitters. I aim at 0.3 hitting average and believe that the rest will follow,” said Lee.

As of Aug. 25, Kim recorded 0.28 hitting average, 13 homeruns, 52 hitting points. Fans are now eager to see how hard Kim would play to achieve his goal this year.

Chang Jeon jeon@donga.com