Lim Chang-yong

Lim Chang-yong is a retired South Korean right-handed pitcher, born on June 30, 1976, who built a career across three professional leagues: the KBO League in South Korea, Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan and Major League Baseball in the United States. He debuted in 1995 with the Haitai Tigers, later became best known as a closer for the Samsung Lions, and was moved into the starting rotation for three seasons from 2001. Lim pitched mainly with a sidearm and underhand delivery, and his tailing two-seam fastball earned the nickname Serpent fastball. He joined the Tokyo Yakult Swallows for the 2008 season, where a scoreless stretch in 2009 brought the nickname Mr. Zero, and he reached the major leagues with the Chicago Cubs in September 2013. For South Korea he won Asian Games gold medals in 1998 and 2002 and a bronze medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics. He announced his retirement in 2019 after a second stint with the Tigers.