On the 11th (today), the 2025 KBO Rookie Draft was held at Lotte Hotel Jamsil in Songpa-gu, Seoul.
In this KBO rookie draft, which was conducted in a full draft format, a total of 1,197 people, including early draft applicants and tryout participants, submitted applications.
The nominations were from the 1st to the 11th round, and the order of the nominations was the reverse order of the 2023 KBO League standings: Kiwoom Heroes-Hanwha Eagles-Samsung Lions-Lotte Giants-KIA Tigers-Doosan Bears-NC Dinos-SSG Landers-KT-Wiz-LG Twins.
Jeong Hyeon-woo (Deoksu High School), a ‘complete left-hander’ who was called the biggest fish in high school long before the start of the draft, was selected by Kiwoom in the first round without any surprises, earning the honor of first overall pick, while right-hander Jeong Woo-joo (Jeonju High School), who has a ‘top speed of 156 km/h’, was selected by the Hanwha Eagles in the second overall pick.
With this, Kiwoom plans to aim for the championship once again by designing a homegrown left-right one-two punch of Ahn Woo-jin and Jung Hyun-woo after Ahn Woo-jin completes his military service, and Hanwha Eagles will draw a picture of the future of their pitching kingdom by nominating another fastball pitcher following Moon Dong-joo and Kim Seo-hyun.
The Samsung Lions, who were known to have been considering between Bae Chan-seung (Daegu High School) and Kim Tae-hyun (Gwangju Jeil High School), ultimately chose left-handed pitcher Bae Chan-seung, a local player. Lotte, which had the 4th pick, selected Kim Tae-hyun from Gwangju Jeil High School, and the Kia Tigers, with the 5th pick, selected Deoksu High School right-handed pitcher Kim Tae-hyung.
The Doosan Bears, with the sixth overall pick, became the first team to select a position player in the first round, selecting infielder Park Jun-soon (Deoksu High School). Park, hailed as the best high school position player this season, posted an OPS of 1.113 in GoGo Baseball.
Kiwoom, who traded Kim Hwi-jip this season for the NC Dinos’ 1st and 3rd round picks, used the 7th pick on Kim Seo-jun (Chunghoon High School), who was considered an immediate prospect, and ended up taking two prospects in the 1st round.
In addition, SSG Landers selected Lee Yul-ye (Gangneung High School), the biggest catcher, KT Wiz selected Kim Dong-hyun (Seoul High School), who has a physique of 193 cm, and last season’s champion LG selected Seoul High School right-handed pitcher Kim Young-woo as the final first-round pick, showing a tendency for pitchers who throw fast balls to be selected first in this draft as well.
