Hwang Jun-seo and Kim Taek-yeon Were Selected 1st and 2nd in the KBO Rookie Draft
Hanwha General Manager Son Hyuk: “Hwang Jun-seo is the player everyone wants… Scouts recommend him all year round”
Pitchers lined up from 1st to 9th ranked… SSG selected infielder Park Ji-hwan,
No. 10 overall, for the first time.
10 teams selected him in all 1st to 11th rounds, making a total of 110 college players,
including early draftees as KBO League freshmen, increasing from 18 last year to 27 this year.
Jangchung High School left-handed pitcher Hwang Jun-seo was selected as the first overall pick in the 2024 KBO rookie draft. 카지노사이트
The Hanwha Eagles exercised the first overall pick on Hwang Jun-seo in the 2023 professional baseball rookie draft held at the Westin Chosun Seoul in Jung-gu, Seoul on the 14th.
A total of 1,083 people applied for this draft, including 782 high school graduates,
296 college graduates (including 41 early draftees), and 5 other overseas amateur and professional players.
After ‘biggest fish’ Jang Hyun-seok (Masan Yongmaggo) signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers of the American Professional Baseball League,
Hwang Jun-seo, who had been mentioned as the ‘overall pick’, won the honor of KBO’s best prospect.
Hwang Jun-seo is the type of pitcher who uses a variety of breaking balls and sophisticated ball control to cook batters.
He pitched 49⅔ innings in 15 high school baseball games this year, striking out 58 batters, and left with 6 wins, 2 losses, and an average ERA of 2.16.
He is expected to be the ‘second Gwang-Hyun Kim’ as he throws a fast ball with a maximum speed of over 150 km/h.
Hanwha General Manager Son Hyuk said, “The club’s scouts have recommended Hwang Jun-seo all year long.
Hwang Jun-seo is the pitcher everyone wants.
He stated the reason for his nomination, saying, “He is a pitcher I will want more in the future.”
The first round picks in the 2024 rookie draft are in the reverse order of the 2022 season team rankings:
Hanwha-Doosan Bears-Lotte Giants-Samsung Lions-NC Dinos-KIA Tigers-KT Wiz-LG Twins- Kiwoom Heroes – SSG Landers, in that order.
Among them, the 8th overall pick in the first round held by LG was exercised by Kiwoom through trade.
Kiwoom secured KIA’s No. 16 overall pick in the second round and Samsung’s No. 24 overall pick in the third round through a trade, selecting six of the top 30 players in this draft.
Doosan, which holds the second overall pick, called Incheon High School right-handed pitcher Kim Taek-yeon.
Taek-yeon Kim had 7 wins, 1 loss, and an ERA of 1.13 in 13 high school baseball games this year,
played a decisive role in winning the bronze medal by taking the mound for 5 consecutive games at the U-18 Baseball World Cup, which ended last week.
Kim Tae-ryong, Doosan’s general manager, said, “Kim Taek-yeon has been consistent from spring until this year’s World Youth Championship in Taiwan.
He has good ball control and maintains speed.
We expect him to grow into Doosan’s stopper (finisher) within two to three years at the earliest.”
The first round of this draft went as expected without any major surprises.
It was a year in which there were particularly many fastball pitchers with speeds exceeding 150 km/h, so pitchers were called out one after another.
Lotte nominated pitcher and hitter Jeon Mir (Gyeongbuk High School).
Jeon Mir is a player with a fastball of 150 km per hour as a pitcher and a slugging power as a batter.
Lotte general manager Seong Min-gyu said, “He has outstanding athleticism that allows him to be both a pitcher and a hitter.
He didn’t hesitate.”
Samsung selected Yuk Seon-yeop (Jangchung High School), a right-handed fastball pitcher with a height of 190 cm.
Samsung general manager Hong Jun-hak said, “He is a player with a fierce passion for baseball.
If he is greedy, I hope he will establish himself as a starting pitcher within three years.”
Right-hander Kim Hwi-geon (Whimoon High School) selected by NC as the 5th overall pick in the first round,
right-hander Cho Dae-hyun (Gangneung High School) selected by KIA as 6th overall,
the right-hander Won Sang-hyeon (Busan High School) selected by KT are all fastball pitchers exceeding 150 km/h.
Kiwoom, who had two first-round picks through a trade, called numbers 8 and 9 overall in succession.
The 8th overall pick that was secured after sending Choi Won-tae to LG was used for right-hander Jeon Jun-pyo (Seoul High School),
the 9th overall pick that was originally held was used for right-hander Kim Yun-ha (Jangchung High School).
Lee Sang-won, head of Kiwoom’s scouting team, explained the background to the nomination,
saying, “Jeon Jun-pyo is a player whose pitching strength is more than 9 strikeouts per 9 innings,
while Kim Yun-ha has a good walk and strikeout ratio and is good at controlling the pace.”
SSG selected infielder Park Ji-hwan (Segwang High School) for the first time in this draft.
SSG general manager Kim Seong-yong said, “I prayed that Park Ji-hwan would remain.
He is a player with the triple potential of offense, defense, and base running,
so he is expected to be a player who will take responsibility for the team’s future.”
This is the second year in a row that 6 players have worn uniforms through the ‘Early Draft System’, which allows second-year college players to try to join the pros.
KT selected pitcher Choi Yoon-seo (Dongeui University) with the 37th overall pick in the 4th round,
Samsung selected pitcher Kim Seong-kyung (Song Won-dae) with the 44th overall pick in the 5th round.
On this day, Kiwoom prepared for the future by selecting a total of 14 players using the nomination rights secured through trade.
NC Dinos also received 7th round picks and selected a total of 12 players.
Among the five players who participated in the rookie draft tryout held by KBO last month,
infielder Hwang Young-mook (formerly Chung-Ang University) and pitcher Jin Woo-young (formerly Kansas City Royals) wore Hanwha and LG uniforms with numbers 31 and 38,
respectively, in the fourth round.
Pitcher Jeong Hyun-soo (Song Won-dae), who made his name known by appearing on the baseball entertainment program ‘Best Baseball’,
was called by Lotte in the second round at number 13, and infielder Ko Young-woo (Sungkyunkwan University) was called by Kiwoom in the fourth round at number 39.
In this year’s draft, 110 people were selected out of 1,083 applicants, recording an employment rate of 10.2%.
Ten clubs exercised all of their nomination rights until the 11th round.
It is also noticeable that the proportion of college players, including early draftees, has increased.
The number of college players increased from 18 (16.4%) of the 110 nominated players last year to 27 (24.5%) this year.