Dae-sung Koo
| Koo Dae-Sung | |
|---|---|
| Hanwha Eagles – No. 15 | |
| Relief pitcher | |
Bats: Left Throws: Left | |
| KBO debut | |
| May 1, 1993, for the Binggre Eagles | |
| KBO statistics (through 2009) | |
| Win-Loss | 67-70 |
| Earned run average | 2.82 |
| Saves | 103 |
| Strikeouts | 1218 |
| Stats at Baseball Reference | |
| Teams | |
| |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
| Olympic medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men’s Baseball | ||
 |
2000 Sydney | Team |
Koo Dae-Sung (Hangul: 구대성, Hanja: 具台晟) (born August 2, 1969 in Daejeon, South Korea) is a left-handed pitcher for the Hanwha Eagles in the Korea Baseball Organization. He was formerly with the New York Mets of Major League Baseball and the Orix BlueWave of Nippon Professional Baseball.
Early life
Koo is a left-handed pitcher despite being born right-handed. As a child, he suffered an injury which forced him to become left-handed. Koo attended Hanyang University.
Professional career
Koo began his professional career in 1993 with the Hanwha Eagles of the Korean Baseball Organization. In 1996, he won both a Gold Glove Award and the MVP of the KBO with a 1.88 ERA, 18 wins, 24 saves and 183 strikeouts in 139 innings pitched.
Koo played for the South Korean national Olympic team in the 2000 games. He led his team to a bronze medal in 2000 by pitching a 3-1 complete game victory over Japan.
In 2001, Koo joined the Orix BlueWave of the Japanese Pacific League. Though he was a reliever throughout his professional career, he became a starter for the team in 2002, recording the second best ERA on the team. The Orix BlueWave merged with the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes in 2004, and he took the opportunity to announce his decision to play in the major leagues.
In 2005, the New York Mets signed Koo as a free agent. He pitched well as a reliever during spring training and was selected for the Mets' active roster as the season began. Despite his 35 years of age, and 12 years experience in Korea and Japan, he was considered a rookie by Major League Baseball in his first year.
Koo's most memorable moment as a Major Leaguer occurred on May 21, 2005, when he recorded his first major league hit (and only hit as of 2008), a double off of Randy Johnson of the New York Yankees. This came right when Fox TV analyst Tim McCarver commented on how Koo's plate appearance was "the biggest give-up at bat". Koo had taken four pitches and sat in his first at-bat, leading everyone to believe that he was ready to go up just to sit down again. On a 2 ball no strike count, Koo crushed a deep line drive right over Bernie Williams's head one hop of the wall in right-center field. Upon reaching second base, the home crowd and his teammates in the dugout cheered and chanted "KOOOO!" When asked about what he thought about the hit, Koo responded, "Other people say that I swung my bat with my eyes closed. But, of course I saw it –I hit it! It has been 18 years since I batted last - when I was in high school. Occasionally I went to the batting cages and swung the bat a couple of times. But, there really wasn’t any difference."[1] A slow runner with little base running experience, Koo advanced to third base on a sacrifice bunt dropped by the following hitter, José Reyes. However, after Koo slowed down approaching third base, he re-accelerated and ran towards a vacant home plate left uncovered as Reyes was getting thrown out at first base. Yankees' catcher Jorge Posada promptly ran towards home in a foot race with Koo. Upon retrieving the thrown ball from first base, Posada applied the tag onto Koo's left shoulder as he slid head first towards home plate on a close play. Home plate umpire Chuck Meriwether called Koo safe on the play. With that, the home crowd once again cheered and chanted his last name. His teammates enthusiastically greeted him, with celebrations ranging from his teammates brushing the dirt off his uniform to Doug Mientkiewicz fanning him with a towel. On his reception by his teammates, Koo said that "they said a lot of things. I just couldn't understand what. I think they were saying 'Good job.'" As of the 2008, it was his final Major League at-bat.
On March 2, 2006, Koo rejoined the Hanwha Eagles when the Mets sold his contract to them.
Personal life
Koo is married with two children and resides in Seoul.
References
See also
External links
- 1969 births
- Living people
- Major League Baseball pitchers
- New York Mets players
- South Korean baseball players
- Baseball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics
- Olympic baseball players of South Korea
- Olympic bronze medalists for South Korea
- 2006 World Baseball Classic players of South Korea
- South Korean expatriate baseball players in Japan
- Orix BlueWave players
- Binggre Eagles players
- Hanwha Eagles players
- People from Daejeon