Batting average .222 Role Baseball Player Home runs 1 Height 1.84 m | RBI 9 Weight 83 kg Name Ko Jong-wook Position Left fielder | |
Number 53 (Nexen Heroes / Left fielder) | ||
Ko Jong-wook (Hangul: 고종욱) (born January 11, 1989 in Seoul) is a South Korean outfielder for the Nexen Heroes in the Korea Baseball Organization. He bats left-handed and throws right-handed.
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Amateur career
Ko attended Kyunggi High School in Seoul. After graduation, he went undrafted in the 2007 KBO Draft and began his collegiate career at Hanyang University.
As a freshman at Hanyang University in 2007, Ko was handed the leadoff spot in the team's line-up, leading the team in hitting with a .298 batting average and helping Hanyang University to win its first national championship since 2001, at the Fall League of the National Collegiate Championship.
In 2008, Ko batted .337 and stole 12 bases, playing in 21 games as a starting center fielder and leadoff hitter.
In 2009, Ko batted .377 with 9 stolen bases in 22 games. After the 2009 collegiate season, he was first called up to the South Korean senior national team. With South Korea, he competed in the IBAF Baseball World Cup. Ko batted .237, drove in 5 runs and stole 2 bases, playing in all 10 games as a starting right fielder.
In 2010, Ko batted a career-high .438, ranked first in the 2010 collegiate league, and stole 12 bases with 1.000 stolen base percentage. As a member of the South Korean collegiate national team, Ko participated in the friendly baseball championship against the United States collegiate national baseball team and the World University Baseball Championship held in Japan.
Professional career
Ko was drafted in the 2011 KBO Entry Draft by the Nexen Heroes as the 3rd pick of the 3rd round, 19th overall. Ko started his rookie year with the expectation that he would earn the lead-off spot in the Heroes' batting order. However, he struggled at the plate, hitting just .179 and having no stolen bases in the first two weeks of the 2011 season. He was demoted to the minors after going 1-for-3 against the SK Wyverns on April 15. Ko was promoted to the first team again on August 7 and finished the season with a .248 batting average and one home run. Ko hit four triples of his 26 total hits during the season, ranked seventh in triples in the league.
From 2012 to 2013, Ko joined the Sangmu Baseball Team to serve two years of military duty. In 2014, Ko returned to the Heroes but was sidelined for the regular season after undergoing surgery for chronic shoulder dislocation.