New KBO manager Williams 'excited' to see ex-Arizona teammate Kim

INCHEON, Oct. 17 (Yonhap) -- When Matt Williams was named the new manager of the Kia Tigers in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) earlier this week, a typical reaction from baseball fans here would have been something along the line of, "Wait -- THAT Matt Williams?"

It sure is -- the same man who's perhaps best known in South Korea for winning the 2001 World Series with the Arizona Diamondbacks alongside South Korean closer Kim Byung-hyun.

Williams was Arizona's third baseman that year, and he and Kim were teammates from 1999 to 2003, during which time Kim was traded to the Boston Red Sox.

Williams, 53, arrived in South Korea Thursday to join the Tigers. Asked to reminisce about Kim, a player often called "BK" by his teammates, Williams gave the 40-year-old former submariner the ultimate compliment you can give to a pitcher.

"He was, in my opinion, the nastiest reliever I've ever seen," Williams said of Kim, who racked up 70 saves in parts of five seasons with the Diamondbacks. "He was a very young player at the time with a bunch of veteran players on the team. We all loved him very much."

After ending his big league career, Kim pitched in two seasons for the Tigers, based in his hometown of Gwangju, 330 kilometers south of Seoul. Williams knew Kim hailed from the city in which he would manage, and added he was "anxious and excited" to get a chance to see Kim for the first time in a while.

As for possibly offering Kim, who's running a hamburger place in Gwangju, a job on his staff, Williams quipped, "I heard he's a big deal. He doesn't have to time to coach. He's got other things going on."

Williams, who managed the Washington Nationals from 2014 to 2015, said he will bring his own bench coach in Mark Weidemaier, who'd been with Williams on the Nationals staff as the defensive positioning coach. He was also a scout for another KBO club, Samsung Lions.

Asked about naming more new coaches, Williams said no immediate change is in the offing because he wants to maintain some continuity with the current staff since the incumbent coaches are familiar with the team.

jeeho@yna.co.kr
(END)