Eddie Kim
As a homegrown talent raised in Fairfax, VA, Eddie Kim graduated from Fairfax HS in 1999 as a 1st Team All District and 2nd Team All Northern Region Player. He was also invited and participated in the prestigious East Coast Professional Showcase playing for the Orioles. Eddie was part of the first elite travel ball programs started in northern VA playing for the Fairfax Eagles as an 8th grader. Some of his teammates were Juniors and Seniors that had committed to play at schools such as UVA, BYU, JMU, Georgetown.
He later joined the Fairfax Barnstormers that had nine Division I commits his senior year and was one of the elite programs in the country. In 1999 playing with the Barnstormers, of the 9 DI talents, 5 would eventually become MLB draft picks following their years in college.
After High School, Eddie chose to attend James Madison University on a Division I athletic scholarship. He helped lead his team his junior year to a top 25 ranking in many publications including Baseball America. During that same year Baseball America ranked Eddie in the CAA as the “Best Pure Hitter” and “Best Raw Power” in their best tools breakdown of each of the conferences. That year the Dukes participated in the 2002 Columbia, SC regional and broke a school record for wins with a 44-16 record which still currently stands.
Some of his highlights at JMU include:
- CAA Baseball Silver Anniversary Team
- Two-tme CAA Player of the Year (2002 and 2003)
- ABCA Second Team All-American (2003)
- CollegeBaseballInsider.com Third Team All-American (2003)
- Collegiate Baseball Third Team All-American (2002 and 2003)
- All-Region All-East First Team (2002 and 2003)
- VaSID All-State Player of the Year (2003)
- JMU Male Athlete of the Year
- Three-time JMU Player of the year
After a stellar career at JMU, Eddie was drafted in the 4th Round (122nd pick overall) of the 2003 Major League Baseball Draft by the Oakland Athletics. He was in the top 10 in the Northwest League for batting average with a .305 mark his first year in pro ball. In 2004 after his second season in the minor leagues, USA Today’s Baseball Weekly recognized Eddie as a “Cream of the Crop” prospect in the Oakland A’s minor league system as a player to watch.
Eddie would played 6 more years of professional baseball and in his last season playing for the Atlantic City Surf finished 3rd on his team with a .306 batting average helping his team to the CanAm League playoffs. That last season he played for former MLB All-Star and World Series Champion, Cecil Fielder.
His professional highlights include:
- 2003 4th Round Draft Pick
- 2003 Beer Hawker Player of Year
- 2004 Midwest League West Division Champions
- 2004 USA Today Baseball Weekly Cream of the Crop
- 2006 Frontier League All-Star
- 2006 Frontier League Home Run Derby Participant
- 2008 CanAm League Playoff Semifinal
During the off-season of each of his 6 seasons playing professional baseball, Eddie grew a passion in teaching the game of baseball to kids of all ages. In addition to his time spent working on his individual skill sets to better himself as a pro, he would spend his time giving instruction on both an individual setting and team training. Teaching the game that has been extremely good to him was a goal set out that once he retired we would like to be embedded specifically in the Northern Virginia area to help other kids develop to hopefully get afforded the same opportunity Eddie was given.
Ten years later his dreams became a reality in 2014 when he decided to leave his full time post working a 9-5 job as he has opened a facility in Sterling, VA called EK Baseball. He knows the work it takes to play at the highest levels and hopes to install some of the teachings learned from playing under some of the best teachers in the world to help each kid reach his/her utmost potential.
We look forward to seeing you at EK Baseball to work with Eddie!