“When I asked the scouts to return to the simulation, the results were all different?”
This is what the general manager of Club A said during a recent meeting with Sports Seoul. This means that this year’s KBO League rookie draft is a major battle. The general manager of Club A said, “When I asked the scouts of the club to submit a report by running each simulation rather than an integrated version, they all came back with different results from the first round pick to the 11th round. “It was really fun,” he said with a chuckle.메이저놀이터
The 10 teams are in the midst of a final inspection ahead of the ‘2024 KBO Rookie Draft’, which will be held on the 14th. Team B’s general manager also complained, saying, “I’m too busy preparing for the rookie draft.” Professional baseball clubs, including Team B, are carefully completing the process of determining who will be responsible for the club’s future as the rookie draft is only 10 days away.
This year, three professional baseball team leaders visited the youth national baseball team (U-18) practice game in person. High-ranking club officials and scouts are also closely watching the ‘World Youth Championship’ currently being held in Taichung, Taiwan. This is because the national team includes most of the players who will be selected as top picks.
Team B’s general manager said, “When you go to the nomination list, many variables arise. If the player we want to select leaves for another team, we are constantly running simulations to see how he will respond. “It will be the same for other clubs,” he said.
Wonju High School’s Kim Kun-hee, who was selected by Kiwoom Heroes as the 6th pick in the first round last year, is taking a commemorative photo with Kiwoom general manager Ko Hyeong-wook (right). Sogong-dong | Reporter Kang Young-jokanjo@sportsseoul.com
The key to this year’s draft is held by Kiwoom Heroes. Kiwoom has been diligently collecting rookie draft rights through trades last year and this year. He holds as many as six draft picks between the 1st and 3rd rounds. In other words, it was possible to select six rookies (8th, 9th, 16th, 19th, 24th, and 29th) in the top 30 in the country.
In a phone call with Sports Seoul, Kiwoom general manager Ko Hyeong-wook did not say anything about this year’s draft, but said, “We will reveal why we collected so many nominations after this year’s draft.”
This year, the rookie farm is known to be particularly good. Pitcher Jang Hyun-seok (Masan Yong Mago), who was the biggest player, signed a contract with the LA Dodgers of the U.S. Major League and will not participate in the KBO League rookie draft. Pitcher Lee Chan-sol (Seoul High School), another strong first-round pick, also headed to the Boston Red Sox. Nevertheless, there are many promising players remaining. Attention is focused on what choices the 10 professional baseball teams will make in 10 days.