A rookie draft that worries me about the 7th place over the 1st place? Kiwoom's Future Could Change

Sep 11, 2024

The 79th Blue Dragon National High School Baseball Championship and the weekend league king match Deoksu and Geumnam High School held at Shinwol Stadium on the 10th. Park Jun-soon, a hitting Deoksu. Shinwol = Reporter Song Jeong-heon @sportschosun.com/2024.07.10/

The 7th place that's more important than the 1st place?

The 2025 KBO League Rookie Draft Day has come. A new team of Korean baseball's future will be decided at Lotte Hotel World in Seoul on the 11th.

It is a draft that fans are more interested in than ever. With the news that there are many competent pitching resources among the first-round candidates, it is inevitable to wonder which players will come to the team they support.

Kiwoom was last last last year, but it is also the only day that can sublimate the pain into joy. This is because he got the first overall nomination right for the rookie draft as compensation for the pain of last place.

Kiwoom, which has been agonizing over Chung Hyun-woo (Deoksu High School) and Jung Woo-joo (Jeonju High School), has already decided on an internal policy regarding the first overall nomination. The weight is leaning a lot toward Jung Hyun-woo.

The 79th Cheongryonggi National High School Baseball Championship Gwangju Jeil High School and Deoksu High School were held at Mokdong Baseball Stadium in Seoul on the 13th. Deoksu High School's Jung Hyun-woo is struggling. Mokdong = Reporter Park Jae-man pjm@sportschosun.com/2024.07.13/

Therefore, regarding the first choice, it seems to be rather foggy. However, there is a reason why Kiwoom's choice is drawing attention. This is because there is another seventh-place pick in the first round.

Kiwoom sent infield big shot prospect Kim Hui-jip to the NC Dinos, making a surprise choice to receive two nominations for the first time in its history. At that time, one of the nomination rights was NC's seventh nomination in the first round.

I don't know at any other time, but as mentioned above, there are many good resources that are difficult to determine the superiority and inferiority if you are about 10 people in the first round, so Kiwoom's seventh-ranked nomination has also become tremendously valuable.

First of all, Kiwoom can make a strategic judgment by looking at the choices of the clubs with the previous rankings. With Chung Hyun-woo and Jung Woo-joo solidified in the first and second rankings, the Samsung Lions, Lotte Giants, KIA Tigers, and Doosan Bears can see who will pick the third to sixth and bring the best player among the remaining players.

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The variable is Park Jun-soon (Deoksu High School), which is called the beast's biggest fish. Kiwoom will challenge Kim Hye-sung to advance to the Major League after this year. Assuming he leaves, he needs a player to fill the second base position, and Park Jun-soon is the perfect player.

The problem is that the third to fifth rankings are very likely to be filled by pitchers, but Doosan, which is ranked sixth, also needs to reinforce the infield. If Doosan nominates Park Joon-soon, Kiwoom may be disappointed. However, it is comforting to be able to turn into a pitcher resource with high potential. In the second half of the first round, right-handers such as Kim Seo-joon (Choong Hoon High School), Kim Dong-hyun and Kim Young-woo (Seoul High School) and left-handers such as Park Jung-hoon (Bibong High School) and Kwon Min-gyu (Se Bo-yeong) are waiting for the call.

Kiwoom has two prospective catcher Kim Dong-heon and Kim Gun-hee, but the possibility of turning toward Lee Yul-ye (Gangneung High School) cannot be ruled out because he is greedy for catchers.

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