"Recognizing my value"… Why Kang Baek-ho's 900 million won salary differs from his 10 billion won FA deal
Kang Baek-ho's official KBO-disclosed salary for the 2026 season is 900 million won. The FA contract of up to 10 billion won over 4 years is the sum of the signing bonus, salary, and options.
Translated from Korean with AI assistance. Read the original. Sources and original publication dates are retained.
Three-line summary
- Kang Baek-ho's official KBO-disclosed 2026 salary is 900 million won, tied for 13th among domestic players.
- The Hanwha FA contract of up to 10 billion won over 4 years is the sum of a 5 billion won signing bonus, 3 billion won in salary, and 2 billion won in options.
- His salary was 290 million won in both the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Two years later, it has risen about 3.1 times.
"I'm grateful to the Hanwha Eagles for recognizing my value." That is what Kang Baek-ho told OhmyNews after signing an FA contract with Hanwha on November 20, 2025. The contract announced that day was worth up to 10 billion won over 4 years. Yet the 2026 salary disclosed by the KBO is 900 million won. The two figures differ by 9.1 billion won.
Kang Baek-ho's salary: 900 million won in 2026, the current figure on an official-disclosure basis
KBO player profile shows that Kang Baek-ho's officially disclosed 2026 salary is 900 million won (checked September 24, 2026). Scorebase's tally is the same. The disclosed salary is the one-season salary announced by the KBO, and it does not include the signing bonus or options. It is a different item from the 10 billion won.
Kang Baek-ho was born on July 29, 1999, and is 27 this year. He is a left-handed designated hitter and first baseman for the Hanwha Eagles. He debuted in the majors with the KT Wiz in 2018 and won the KBO Rookie of the Year award that year. In 2020 and 2021, after moving to first base, he won back-to-back Golden Glove awards. Over 8 seasons with KT, he hit 0.303 with 136 home runs and 565 RBIs (as of the end of the 2025 season).
Two years at 290 million won, then a 141.4% raise to 700 million won in 2025
| Season | Team | Salary | Change from previous year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | KT | 290 million | — |
| 2024 | KT | 290 million | Frozen |
| 2025 | KT | 700 million | +410 million (141.4%) |
| 2026 | Hanwha | 900 million | +200 million (28.6%) |
A Yonhap News report carried by Financial Newsshows that Kang Baek-ho received 290 million won in each of the 2023 and 2024 seasons. His salary stayed the same for two years. His 2024 season stats, per KBO records, are 144 games, a 0.289 average, 26 home runs, and 96 RBIs. After that, his salary rose sharply when he signed a salary contract with KT on January 25, 2025.
His 2025 salary was 700 million won, which was 410 million won more than the year before. The 141.4% raise is confirmed with the same figure in OSEN's report as well. His 2026 salary of 900 million won after moving to Hanwha is about 3.1 times his salary from two years earlier (900 million won ÷ 290 million won). The raise is 200 million won, or 28.6% (200 million won ÷ 700 million won).
Hanwha FA deal worth up to 10 billion won over 4 years: 5 billion won signing bonus, 3 billion won in salary, 2 billion won in options
Kang Baek-ho entered the FA market after recording 95 games, a 0.265 average, 15 home runs, and 61 RBIs for KT in the 2025 season. Yonhap News reports that on November 20, 2025, Hanwha announced a 4-year contract worth up to 10 billion won. By News1's count, it is the 15th FA contract of 10 billion won or more in KBO history. That is a sequence number, not a ranking by amount.
The 10 billion won is split into a 5 billion won signing bonus, 3 billion won in total salary over 4 years, and 2 billion won in options. Adding only the signing bonus and salary, without the options, gives 8 billion won. Whether the 2 billion won in options is actually received must be checked separately. The 2.5 billion won you get by dividing 10 billion won by 4 years is merely a simple average, not actual salary or take-home pay.
One number is worth noting. Dividing the 3 billion won in total salary over 4 years by 4 gives 750 million won. But the first-year disclosed salary of 900 million won is 150 million won higher than that. By calculation, a total of 2.1 billion won remains for the salaries of the 2027–2029 seasons. The breakdown by season has not been made public.
Kang Baek-ho's salary ranking: tied for 13th, 3.3 billion won behind No. 1 Yang Eui-ji's 4.2 billion won
| Rank | Player | Team | Salary (KRW) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yang Eui-ji | Doosan | 4.2 billion |
| T-11 | No Si-hwan | Hanwha | 1 billion |
| T-11 | Won Tae-in | Samsung | 1 billion |
| T-13 | Kang Baek-ho | Hanwha | 900 million |
| T-13 | Gu Chang-mo | NC | 900 million |
| T-13 | Eom Sang-baek | Hanwha | 900 million |
| T-13 | Han Yu-seop | SSG | 900 million |
| T-17 | Na Sung-bum | KIA | 800 million |
Scorebase data show that Kang Baek-ho's 900 million won ranks among domestic players' official 2026 salaries tied for 13th (checked September 24, 2026). Gu Chang-mo (NC), Eom Sang-baek (Hanwha), and Han Yu-seop (SSG) receive the same amount. He is 100 million won behind No Si-hwan (Hanwha) and Won Tae-in (Samsung), tied for 11th just above. Below him is Na Sung-bum (KIA, 800 million won), tied for 17th.
The gap with No. 1 is large. By the KBO's official announcement, the league's highest salary is Doosan's Yang Eui-ji at 4.2 billion won. That is 3.3 billion won more than Kang Baek-ho, about 4.7 times as much. This table is based on disclosed salaries and is not a ranking of total pay including signing bonuses and options. Yaguna-ra numbers players with the same salary consecutively, which puts Na Sung-bum on the 20th row.
30 home runs and 103 RBIs: first-year results and salary after the move
His first Hanwha season stands at 108 games, a 0.289 average, 30 home runs, 103 RBIs, and a 0.909 OPS (as reported as of September 8, 2026). It is his first 30-homer, 100-RBI season and a career high. Compared with the 2025 season, his home runs doubled and his RBIs rose by 42. Dividing salary by home runs, the cost per home run fell from about 46.7 million won to 30 million won.
Summary of key figures on Kang Baek-ho's salary and how often they are updated
Kang Baek-ho's salary is 290 million won in the 2023 season, 290 million won in the 2024 season, 700 million won in the 2025 season (KT), and 900 million won in the 2026 season (Hanwha). The Hanwha FA contract is worth up to 10 billion won over 4 years (5 billion won signing bonus, 3 billion won total salary, 2 billion won in options). His 2026 disclosed-salary ranking is tied for 13th among domestic players.
Disclosed salaries and rankings change each year when the KBO announces team salaries. The 2026 season disclosure came out on March 18. Total contract value and salary are neither assets nor take-home pay after taxes and fees. Advertising and sponsorship income and net worth were left out because no verifiable basis could be found. "So that I can play baseball in a good environment." Those were Kang Baek-ho's words on the day of the signing.
Frequently asked questions
Q. How much is Kang Baek-ho's salary?
His 2026 salary as disclosed by the KBO is 900 million won. In the 2025 season, he received 700 million won from KT, and in the 2023 and 2024 seasons, he received 290 million won.
Q. How old is Kang Baek-ho?
He was born on July 29, 1999, and is 27 as of 2026. He debuted with the KT Wiz in 2018 and won the KBO Rookie of the Year award that year.
Q. Is the 10 billion won in Kang Baek-ho's FA contract all money he receives?
No. The 5 billion won signing bonus plus the 3 billion won total salary over 4 years comes to 8 billion won, and the remaining 2 billion won is options. Whether the options are actually received must be checked separately.
Related official sites
- KBO official website — You can check the KBO's annual salary disclosures and league records.
- KBO official player profile for Kang Baek-ho — You can see his current team and this season's records.
- KBO year-by-year and career records for Kang Baek-ho — You can compare season-by-season stats alongside the salary trend.
Representative image · Archive photo · Not an on-site photo of a current game in the article · Photo composite · Photo: Wikimedia Commons (Showtime2027), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Photo: Wikimedia Commons (Fetx2002), CC BY-SA 4.0
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