It will be interesting to see how Kiwoom Heroes fares in the 2024 Rookie Draft. They have the most picks in the top rounds.
The KBO will hold the 2024 KBO Rookie Draft on April 14 at 2 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom of the Westin Chosun Hotel in Seoul.
The 2024 KBO Rookie Draft will be an open-ended draft. Nominations will be made in the first through 11th rounds, in the reverse order of the 2023 team standings: Hanwha-Dusan-Lotte-Samsung-NC-KIA-KT-LG-Keum-SSG. In addition, sophomore players from four-year (including three-year) universities will be eligible to participate in the draft through the Early Draft System, which was implemented last year.
Kiwoom has a whopping six picks in the first through third rounds. Under the rules, which allow teams to trade the following year’s pick for a player in a trade, Kiwoom, which acquired the pick in a previous trade, will exercise the first-, second-, and third-round picks held by LG, KIA, and Samsung, respectively, and NC will exercise the seventh-round pick held by Hanwha.
Kiwoom was traded to the KIA Tigers last year in exchange for a second-round pick in 2023. When he was traded to the Samsung Lions on April 27 this year, he received Samsung’s third-round pick in exchange for pitcher Kim Tae-hoon.스포츠토토
On July 29, he was traded to the LG Twins for a first-round pick in exchange for pitcher Choi Won-tae. In other words, in the top rounds of the first through third rounds, Kiwoom can select six rookies.
It will be interesting to see how the Kiwoom Heroes move in the 2024 rookie draft. / KBO
In this year’s rookie draft, Kiwoom will have the most players with 14, NC will have 12, LG, KIA, Samsung, and Hanwha will have 10, and Doosan, Lotte, KT, and SSG will have 11. In total, 110 players will wear the uniforms of KBO clubs.
The total number of players eligible for this year’s draft is 1083, including 782 high school graduates, 296 college graduates (including 41 early draft picks), and five other players, including overseas amateurs and professionals.
While the first and second overall picks in the draft, such as Hwang Jun-seo of Jangchung and Kim Taek-yeon of Incheon, are likely to go to the Hanwha Eagles and Doosan Bears, there are a number of players in the top rounds who can be utilized in the first team for the foreseeable future.
With so many options, teams can strategize to scratch an itch. It remains to be seen how effectively Kiwoom will use its six picks in this draft.
NC received this year’s seventh-round pick in exchange for outfielder Lee Myung-gi and catcher Lee Jae-yong in a trade with the Hanwha Eagles on February 14. The fifth-ranked NC can only select two players in the seventh round.
The 2024 KBO Rookie Draft will be broadcast live on cable sports channels SBS Sports, MBC SPORTS+, SPOTV, and SPOTV2, and on wired and wireless platforms Naver, Daum (Kakao TV), TVING, and Spotify.
