Are KBO drafts losing steam? 'Gwangju Ilgo Ohtani' Kim Sung-joon is about to sign a contract with Texas → 'No. 1 overall candidate' Park Joon-hyun and Seo Moon-joon also make ML love calls
Are KBO drafts losing steam? 'Gwangju Ilgo Ohtani' Kim Sung-joon is about to sign a contract with Texas → 'No. 1 overall candidate' Park Joon-hyun and Seo Moon-joon also make ML love calls
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Will the KBO draft lose its credibility? All of the leading candidates in the first place seem to be linked to Major League teams.메이저사이트
"Gwangju Ilgo Ohtani" pitcher and infielder Kim Sung-joon is already close to signing a contract with the Texas Rangers. Jangchung High School pitcher Seo Moon-joon and Bukil High School pitcher Park Joon-hyun are also known to receive a Major League love call.
Kim Sung-joon, who dreams of becoming Ohtani of Korea, recently decided to join the Texas Rangers in the Major League and reached the final stage of his contract (Expots News reported on May 8, 2025 at 2:53 p.m.). The down payment reportedly exceeds 1 million U.S. dollars.
Kim Sung-joon, a right-handed and right-handed pitcher and infielder from Gwangju, born in 2007, has already shown off both pitching and batting talents on the official stage since his second year of high school last year.
Kim Sung-joon pitched in 14 games (34.1 innings) as a pitcher at the official 2024 tournament, recording a 3-1 record with a 2.65 ERA, 47 strikeouts, 17 pitches and a WHIP of 1.06. As a batter, he played in 28 games with a batting average of 0.307, 31 hits, one home run, eight RBIs, 13 steals, 26 pitches, a on-base percentage of 0.445 and a slugging percentage of 0.386.
This year's official tournament, a senior high school student, has played 10 games as a batter with a batting average of 0.333, 13 hits, one home run, eight RBIs, three steals, a 0.400 on-base percentage, and a 0.590 slugging percentage, while pitchers have 2 wins and one loss with a 1.13 ERA, 33 strikeouts, 11 walks, and a WHIP of 0.79. Kim Sung-joon also played as both a pitcher and a batter in the 79th Golden Lion National High School Baseball Competition and the 32nd round of the weekend league's King Wangjung match (10-05th cold game win).
Kim Sung-joon already expressed his desire to grow into a second-class player through a direct major league match in an interview with Expo News in January.
"I want to be both a pitcher and a fielder even when I go to the professional league. I want to play baseball that others cannot easily do," Kim said. "If there is a Ohtani in Japan, I want to show that Korea has Kim Sung-joon," Kim said. "It is true that I am more attracted to not only the KBO league but also to the Major League than last year." "If I mainly showed Scouts performance as a pitcher last year, I will also show more performance as a fielder this year." "I want to challenge myself in a cartoon-like baseball where I play as a starting shortstop, hit the winning hit, take the mound as a closing pitcher and save," he vowed.
In the end, Kim Sung-joon heads to the U.S. to achieve his dream of becoming South Korea's Ohtani in partnership with the Texas club, which guaranteed his growth plan as a second-rate player. As Kim Sung-joon, who was the No. 1 candidate in the total, chose to go straight to the Major League, the 2026 KBO rookie draft is also expected to fall into the fog. Now, Jangchung High School right-hander Seo Moon-joon and Bukil High School right-hander Park Joon-hyun are drawing attention as the top candidates.
However, according to the report by Expots News, Seo Moon-joon and Park Joon-hyun are also receiving strong love calls from Major League teams. The amateurish field sees that the possibility cannot be ruled out. If the two players also leave for the U.S., the biggest three players in the KBO draft will disappear. KBO league teams are also expected to be agonizing over the leak of top prospects to the U.S.