Yoo Hee-kwan


Yoo Hee-kwan is a South Korean starting pitcher who currently plays for the Doosan Bears. He bats and throws left-handed.

Professional career

Yoo started his career with the Doosan Bears in 2009 and 2010, and played sporadically out of the bullpen. He then served in military duty for 2 years and played in the military's team, the Sangmu Baseball Team. Upon returning to Doosan in 2013, he emerged has a surprisingly dominant starting pitcher, earning 10 wins and a 3.53 ERA. He consolidated his position in 2014 and 2015, winning 12 and 18 games respectively. In 2015, his 18 wins were good for second in the league, behind the NC Dinos' Eric Hacker. He was instrumental in Doosan's 2015 season Korean Series title, earning the win and game MVP honors in the decisive Game 5 against the Samsung Lions.

Pitching style

Yoo is known for his unconventional pitching style. Yoo has a fairly short stature for a pitcher, standing at 1.80 m, and is bulky, weighing 88 kg. Yoo is amongst the slowest hurlers in the league, as his fastball rarely tops 133 km/h. Yoo, a left-handed pitcher, makes up for this slow delivery with excellent control, and a very efficient set of change-ups and breaking balls.