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Eric Sim (born January 3, 1989) is a Korean-born baseball YouTuber and was an ex-professional baseball player for the San Francisco Giants Minor League teams, as well as the independent league team Winnipeg Goldeyes. He was drafted by the Giants in the 27th round of the 2010 MLB Draft out of the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida as a junior.
Early Life
Sim grew up in Busan, South Korea before his family immigrated to Canada at the age of 13. He attended high school at Robert Bateman Secondary School in British Columbia, where he played on the school's varsity baseball team. After graduating high school, he "desired" to continue playing baseball. Although he had no college offers at first, he eventually signed with Colby Community College in Kansas, United States, which offered a Junior College baseball program, otherwised known as JUCO. He played there for a total of 2 years.
After that, Sim received a scholarship to play his last 2 seasons at University of South Florida where he batted .248/.366/.307. He was then drafted by the Giants in the 27th round of the 2010 MLB Draft out of the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida as a junior.
Professional Career and Independent League
Minor Leagues (Giants Farm System)
Eric Sim's Minor League career with the Giants lasted for 6 years, starting from 2010 and ending in 2015. In his first two seasons, he played Rookie Ball in the Arizona Complex League. In his second season in Rookie ball, he had a batting average of .352 with a total of 6 home runs. The next year, he played on 3 minor league levels, which were Rookie ball, Single-A, and Triple-A. His Triple-A stint was the highest level Sim got to in his entire professional carreer. Between 2013 and 2014, Sim moved up and down the professional baseball hierarchy, ranging from Single-A to Double-A, before being released by the team in 2015 while playing Low-A, ending his minor league career. His final batting stats in the entire minor leagues were .230/.322/.333.
Independent League (Winnipeg Goldeyes)
After being released by the San Francisco Giants, he signed with the Winnipeg Goldeyes in the American Association Baseball League in the following season (2016). During his time there, he played a total of 7 games. After the season, he did not sign anywhere else, thus, ending his professional career as a baseball player.
Post-professional career
After finsishing his professional career as a baseball player, Sim returned to Canada, where he worked as a bartender.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, while throwing baseballs at a park, he felt "disastisfied" that he only threw a baseball 77 mph. Over the next year, he started training with concrete weights, and posted progress videos of himself on social media platforms, such as Twitter and YouTube, trying to reach the goal of throwing 95 mph from training at home. In November of 2020, he finally threw 95 mph, acheiving his goal and completing his challenge. By that time, he already gained notable popularity on social media.
After he completed his challenge, Sim kept regularly posting on YouTube, where he gained fame and suscribers. His content consists of videos which contains different challenges, accomplishements, collaborations, recreations, and many more. He also collaborated with MLB players in multiple videos, notably Fernando Tatís Jr., Jose Trevino, and Trevor Bauer. On the platform, Eric Sim is also an advocate for Junior College Baseball, as well as advocating young players that nothing comes easy.
References
- ^ "Eric Sim - Baseball". USF Athletics. Retrieved 2024-12-23.
- ^ Rawlings, Matt (2021-12-03). "The King of JUCO: How a former Salem-Keizer Volcanoes player became a social media sensation". Keizertimes. Retrieved 2024-12-23.
- ^ "Eric Sim Minor & Independent Leagues Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2024-12-23.
- "Eric Sim Stats, Age, Position, Height, Weight, Fantasy & News". MLB.com. Retrieved 2024-12-23.
- Montemurro, Meghan. "Ex-minor leaguer Eric Sim is serious — '95 mph or die' — about throwing for fun". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-12-23.
- "Eric Sim- JUCO King and Former Professional Baseball Player". BACHTALK. Retrieved 2024-12-23.