Home > Sports > Baseball

Veteran slugger Choi Hyoung-woo rejoins old team Samsung Lions

Published: 03 Dec. 2025, 17:03

Samsung Lions player Choi Hyoung-woo, left, poses with the club's general manager, Lee Jong-yeol, after signing with the Korea Baseball Organization club on Dec. 3. [SAMSUNG LIONS]

The greatest run producer in Korean baseball history is returning to the club where it all began more than two decades ago.

The Samsung Lions announced Wednesday they have signed the 41-year-old slugger Choi Hyoung-woo to a two-year contract worth 2.6 billion won ($1.77 million), including incentives, in free agency.

Choi, the all-time leader in KBO history with 1,737 RBIs, first played for the Lions and their minor league affiliate from 2002 to 2005, and again from 2008 to 2016. Choi went on to spend the next nine seasons with the Kia Tigers and decided to rejoin the Lions to finish out his illustrious career.

Choi, who turns 42 in two weeks, is also the KBO's career leader with 543 doubles and 4,426 total bases. He is second overall with 2,586 hits and 1,197 walks, and third with 419 home runs and 1,365 runs scored.

Choi has remained productive into his 40s. This year, he launched 24 home runs, his most in five years, and knocked in 86 runs. His batting average (.307), slugging percentage (.529), doubles (30) and runs (74) were all his best marks since 2020.

The left-handed slugger adds depth to an already dangerous Lions team that led the KBO in home runs in each of the past two seasons while playing at hitter-friendly Daegu Samsung Lions Park. The Lions also had the highest team slugging percentage this year at .427, with first baseman Lewin Diaz, the 2025 MVP runner-up, leading the way by hammering 50 home runs and driving in a league-record 158 runs.

Samsung Lions player Choi Hyoung-woo [SAMSUNG LIONS]

Their lineup also boasts a perennial All-Star in Koo Ja-wook, a career .318 hitter who consistently ranks among the leaders in hits, doubles, runs and batting average, and a pair of emerging young stars in Kim Young-woong and Lee Jae-hyeon, who both have flashed game-changing power. They have contact-oriented speedsters at the top of the lineup with Kim Ji-chan (.281 average and 22 steals in 2025) and Kim Seong-yoon (.331 average and 26 steals in 2025).

Since Daegu Samsung Lions Park opened in 2016, no team has blasted more home runs than the Lions' 1,517. Their short left field porch is considered ideal for Choi, who put up massive numbers in his lone season at the stadium in 2016. That year, Choi led the league with career highs of .376 batting average, 144 RBIs, 195 hits and 46 doubles. Choi also had the highest on-base plus slugging in 2016 with 1.115 — thanks to a .464 on-base percentage and a .651 slugging percentage.

Choi helped the Lions win four consecutive Korean Series titles from 2011 to 2014, and collected two more championship rings with the Tigers in 2017 and 2024.

Choi was selected by the Lions in the sixth round of the 2001 draft as catcher. But he only logged eight plate appearances combined during his first stint — six in 2002 and two in 2004 — and spent the majority of his time in the Futures League, the KBO's minor league. The Lions released him after the 2005 season.

While Choi was completing his mandatory military service in the Futures League by playing for the national police team, the Lions brass noticed marked improvements by Choi, who by then had converted to an outfielder. They brought him back before the 2008 season, and Choi rewarded the Lions by becoming the oldest winner of the Rookie of the Year award at age 24 with 19 home runs, 71 RBIs and a .276/.364/.487 line in 126 games.

Choi has reached double figures in home runs and played in over 100 games in every season since then.

Yonhap