18.6% of Ballplayers Earn More Than 100 Million Won

Among the 478 professional baseball players registered to the Korea Baseball Organization, 18.6%, or 89 of them are receiving a salary higher than 100 million won. If a “dream team” were to be formed with players making the highest salaries in each position, it would cost 5.05 billion won to pay for the 10 players. This is according to the players’ registration status announced by the KBO on February 8.

Samsung’s players earn the most-

It can be said that these players are meeting the standards of ideal spouses on average. (Foreign players and rookies are excluded from this calculation.) Hanwha’s outfielder Goh Dong-jin (27) turned out to be the “average” Korean pro baseball player with a height of 183cm, a weight of 85kg, and a salary of 80 million won.

Regarding the average salary of each team, Samsung is the most expensive team with an average salary of 131.97 million won. It is almost as twice as much as Doosan’s average salary of 67 million won.

The player topping the salary rankings is Samsung outfielder Shim Jeong-soo (750 million won), who already won this title last year. Meanwhile, Hanwha pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin had the steepest increase (400%) in wage after seeing his earnings quintuple from 20 million to 100 million won this year. What the 10 players leading each position in terms of salary will get is comparable to the annual sales of a small and medium-sized enterprise. Hyundai’s outfielder Song Ji-man will make 600 million won, Samsung’s shortstop Park Jin-man will make 550 million won, and Yang Joon-hyuk, a pinch hitter on the same team, will make 400 million.

39 players are 35 or older-

Although the term “the 38th parallel” refers to the pre-Korean War boundary between the two Koreas, it is now frequently used in the nation to refer to the age when salaried workers are urged to resign from their jobs. In Korean baseball, there are as many as 39 players on rosters who are 35 or older.

The oldest among domestic players is Hanwha pitcher Song Jin-woo (41), and among foreigners, the oldest is Felix Jose (42). However, Song’s actual age is 43 and even Jose himself is not sure about his own age.

The player with the highest salary in this age group is Koo Dae-sung (38), who is set to earn 630 million won this year.

Among all registered players, the tallest is LG’s rookie pitcher Choi Jong-in (195cm), and the shortest is Samsung’s rookie outfielder Kim Sang-jun (168cm).