Lee Yong-chan (; born January 2, 1989) is a South Korean

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who pitches in the game after the starting pitcher or another relief pitcher has been removed from the game due to fatigue (medical), fatigue, injury, ineffectiveness, ejection ...

for the NC Dinos of the

KBO League The KBO League () is a professional baseball league in South Korea. The league comprises ten teams. The KBO League was founded with six franchises in 1982 and is the most popular sports league in South Korea. The Kia Tigers are the most success ...

. He bats and throws right-handed.

Amateur career

Lee attended Jangchung High School in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

, South Korea. In 2006, he was selected for the South Korea national junior team that won the gold medal at the World Junior Baseball Championship in

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

. Lee came on in relief and hurled three inning no-hitter with six strikeouts in a 9–0 victory over

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. He started Team Korea's fourth game of the round robin phase against

, but allowed six runs and seven hits in just three innings.

Professional career

Doosan Bears

Upon graduation from Jangchung High School in 2007, Lee joined the Doosan Bears, selected in the first round of the 2007 KBO Draft. However, he was sidelined the entire season after undergoing elbow surgery. Lee was added to the 26-man first team roster of the Bears in the start of 2008 season, and posted a solid 1.23 ERA with 12 strikeouts, allowing two

earned runs In baseball, an earned run is any Run (baseball), run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the ...

in eight games in April. On April 30, Lee earned his first professional win over the Kia Tigers, coming on relief and pitching 2.1 scoreless innings with two strikeouts. However, he was again placed on the disabled list in May when his elbow symptoms returned during a game, and didn't come up to the first team roster until the end of the season. Lee had his best season as a closer in 2009 when he led the KBO league with a league-leading 26 saves, appearing in 51 games. He was regarded as an unconventional closer, however, as he didn't overwhelm hitters. Despite 19 saves and a 3.00 ERA before the All-Star break, he struggled the second half of the season when his ERA jumped to 4.98. Lee managed to rebound nicely from the slump in September, the final month of season, hurling 6.1 scoreless innings and racking 3 saves, but his final ERA (4.20) was the second-highest among the Top 10 closers of the 2009 KBO league. Lee picked up his first save of the 2010 season on March 28 against the Kia Tigers and soon became the league's leading closer. He saved 11 consecutive games before he suffered his first blown save of the season on May 19 against the

Hanwha Eagles The Hanwha Eagles () are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Daejeon that competes in the KBO League. The Eagles' home ballpark is Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark. They have won the Korean Series once, in 1999, and the league penn ...

. On September 6, 2010, Lee was arrested in Apgujeong-dong,

on drunk driving charges after the police caught him in hit-and-run crash. He was pulled over and took a

Breathalyzer A breathalyzer or breathalyser (a portmanteau of ''breath'' and ''analyzer/analyser''), also called an alcohol meter, is a device for measuring breath alcohol (drug), alcohol content (BrAC). It is commonly utilized by law enforcement officers ...

test, which he failed. He was charged with misdemeanor driving while intoxicated. The Bears suspended him indefinitely later that day when media reports of the arrest surfaced. In 2019, Lee made 26 starts for Doosan, registering a 7–10 record and 4.07 ERA with 102 strikeouts in innings pitched.

NC Dinos

On June 1, 2023, South Korea baseball began an investigation of Lee and two other WBC pitchers ( Kwang-hyun Kim and Jeong Cheol-won) for violating behavioral codes. The violation was a result of the three pitchers boozing during two nights of the tournament, and Lee was demoted to the minor leagues by NC as a result of the investigation.

International career

He represented

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

at the

2018 Asian Games The 2018 Asian Games ( or ''Asian Games 2018''), officially known as the 18th Asian Games (), and also known as Jakarta-Palembang 2018 or Indonesia 2018, were a Asia, continental multi-sport event that was held from 18 August to 2 September 201 ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Yong-chan 1989 births Living people Baseball players at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for South Korea Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games medalists in baseball Doosan Bears players KBO League pitchers KBO League Rookie of the Year Award winners Baseball players from Seoul 2023 World Baseball Classic players NC Dinos players 21st-century South Korean sportsmen World Baseball Classic players of South Korea