Mo Chang-min (; born May 8, 1985 in

Gwangju Gwangju () is South Korea's sixth-largest metropolis. It is a designated metropolitan city under the direct control of the central government's Home Minister. The city was also the capital of South Jeolla Province until the provincial offic ...

) is an

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles. ...

who plays for the NC Dinos in the Korea Baseball Organization League. He bats and throws

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

Amateur career

After graduating from Gwangju Jaeil High School, Mo went undrafted in the 2005 KBO Amateur Draft. Instead, he entered

Sungkyunkwan University Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU or simply ''Seongdae'', Hangul: 성균관대학교; Hanja: 成均館大學校) is a private comprehensive research university in South Korea. The institution traces its origins to the historic Sungkyunkwan, found ...

to play college baseball. While in college, Mo was regarded as the best collegiate five-tool player, winning numerous home run and stolen base titles. In July 2006, as a junior at Sungkyunkwan University, Mo got his first call-up to the

South Korea national baseball team The South Korean national baseball team ( ko, 대한민국 야구 국가대표팀) is the national baseball team of South Korea. It won the Baseball World Cup in 1982, and participated in the Summer Olympic Games of 1984, 1988, 1996, and 2000. ...

and competed in the team's three friendly baseball matches against the

USA national baseball team The United States national baseball team represents the United States in international-level baseball competitions. The team is currently ranked 5th in the world by the World Baseball Softball Confederation. Team USA won the Olympic baseball ...

in Durham, North Carolina, as a

cleanup hitter In baseball, a cleanup hitter is the fourth hitter in the batting order. The cleanup hitter is traditionally the team's most powerful hitter. His job is to "clean up the bases", i.e., drive in base runners. Theory The thinking behind the us ...

. He hit a two-RBI single off future

Cy Young Award The Cy Young Award is given annually to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball (MLB), one each for the American League (AL) and National League (NL). The award was first introduced in 1956 by Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick in honor of Ha ...

winner Jake Arrieta in Game 3 but struggled at the plate during the series, going 1-for-10.

Notable international careers

Professional career

Mo was selected by the

SK Wyverns SSG Landers () are a South Korean professional baseball team. The team was originally established as the SK Wyverns but was renamed as the SSG Landers in 2021 after Shinsegae acquired the team from SK Group. They are a member of the KBO League. ...

with the 10th overall pick of the KBO Draft. After the Draft, Wyverns

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

Kim Sung-Keun indicated an expectation that Mo would resume his role as the team's top base-stealing slugger entering the 2008 season. The team gave Mo consistent chances during the season when he appeared in 91 games. However, Mo finished his rookie season with a disappointing .223

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average i ...

, 1 home run, 20

RBI RBI most often refers to: *Reserve Bank of India *Run batted in RBI may also refer to: Organisations *Radio Berlin International *Raiffeisen Bank International *Reed Business Information *Restaurant Brands International *Ruđer Bošković In ...

and 10 stolen bases. In Mo posted slightly better offensive stats, batting .237 and smacking 4 home runs in 92 games. In , however, Mo was demoted to the Wyverns' second-tier team, spending half of the 2010 season in the Futures League. He hit only .183 with 2 RBI through the 2010 season. After the season, Mo left the Wyverns to serve a two-year mandatory military commitment. In October , Mo competed for the South Korean national team in the 2011 Baseball World Cup where he batted .302 and smacked 2 home runs with 6 RBI, appearing in all 12 games as a starting third baseman. He made the tourney All-Star team at third base, beating out Michel Enríquez and Javier Castillo. Mo was drafted by the NC Dinos in the 2013 KBO Expansion Draft. In his first year with the Dinos, he batted .276 with 12 home runs and 51 RBIs. In the 2014 season, Mo batted .263, with career highs in home runs (16), RBI (72) and hits (110). Prior to the 2016 season, Mo sustained a knee injury. In early March, he underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn

meniscus Meniscus may refer to: * Meniscus (anatomy), crescent-shaped fibrocartilaginous structure that partly divides a joint cavity * Meniscus (liquid), a curve in the upper surface of liquid contained in an object *Meniscus (optics) A lens is a ...

, and missed the first half of the season. He returned from injury in July, and finished the season with a .319 batting average in 133

at-bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

s. Mo bounced back in the 2017 season, establishing career-highs in numerous offensive categories, including hits (148), doubles (25), home runs (17), RBIs (90), total bases (230), and walks (39).

Notable international careers

External links

* Korea Baseball Organization career statistics fro
Koreabaseball.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mo, Chang-Min NC Dinos players SSG Landers players KBO League infielders South Korean baseball players Sungkyunkwan University alumni 1985 births Living people Hampyeong Mo clan Baseball players from Gwangju