The average annual salary for Korean professional baseball players reached a record high of 94.4 million won ($84,108) this year, with 112 players receiving a six-figure salary, the country's baseball governing body said Wednesday.
According to the report released by the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), a total of 425 Korean players, excluding rookies and foreign players, will receive 94.4 million won on average for the 2012 season, up 8.5 percent from the previous record of 87 million won last year.
The number of South Korean players who topped the landmark 100 million-won figure in their annual salary reached an all-time high of 112 athletes, or 26.4 percent of the total, the KBO said.
The Samsung Lions, which claimed the Korean Series crown last year, will pay an average of 117 million won to their players this year, the most among the KBO's nine clubs, the data showed.
In terms of pay hikes, the Hanwha Eagles topped the list as they decided to pay their players 94.4 million won on average this year, up by 75.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the data.
First baseman Kim Tae-kyun of the Hanwha Eagles will earn 1.5 billion won this year, the highest salary in the KBO, followed by slugger Lee Seung-yeop of the Samsung Lions who will be paid 700 million won.
Meanwhile, the average age of all registered players came to 26.7 years, with an average height of 182.6 centimeters and weight of 84.3 kilograms.
Lee Jong-beom of the Kia Tigers, 42, is the oldest active player in the league, while 18-year-old rookie Lee Hyung-beom of the KBO's ninth club NC Dinos, is the youngest, according to the data.
Dustin Nippert of the Doosan Bears is the tallest player at 203 cm, which is 38 centimeters taller than infielder Kim Sun-bin of the Kia Tigers, the shortest player of the league.
Choi Joon-seok of Doosan is the heaviest man in the KBO, weighing 115 kg, while the three lightest players -- Doosan's Woo Dong-gyun and Kim Sang-soo, and Kim Sung-hyun of SK -- weighed in at 68 kg each, the data showed.