The 2nd draft returns with an ‘upgraded version’. Will it definitely work this time?
The KBO Board of Directors decided on the 12th to revive the 2nd draft from this year for upward leveling of the league. The second draft will be held after the end of this year’s season. The second draft, held after the end of the 2019 season, was the most recent, and it is the first time in four years.
The 2nd draft is a system created to guarantee new opportunities to players who have been pushed out of the competition for the main team within the team or remain as old prospects and lack opportunities to participate by transferring to other teams. It was first held before the 2012 season, and since then it has been held every two years.
In other words, there are situations where you have to give up a player. Ahead of the second draft, each club is in deep trouble to create a list of protected players. Players who deviate from the list must be carefully written because they have no choice but to be nominated by another team. Previously, players other than the 40-man list were subject to nomination. In that case, most of the players who are nominated by other teams outside the roster are prospects who have the power to go back and forth between the 1st and 2nd teams or have a certain ‘poten’, but have not fully bloomed.
In the meantime, the team that ‘lost’ the most players in the second draft is the Doosan Bears. Doosan had to give up 23 players. The team that gave away the least was the Hanwha Eagles with 7 players. In the second draft held in November 2019, among the Doosan players, Jin-soo Byun (pitcher) Dong-yeon Kang (pitcher) Jin-ho Jeong (outfielder) Hyun-ho Lee (pitcher) were filled and nominated. Lee Jae-hak (NC), who is considered one of the most successful players in the second draft, is also from Doosan. Doosan is called ‘Hwasubun Baseball’ in the sense that prospects are constantly springing up, but the second draft bleeding felt painful inside.
However, in practice, many pointed out that the second draft was carried out quite passively. The transfer fee for each round is also incurred for the transfer of the second draft, and for this reason, there were clubs that did not nominate players at all. In addition, the fact that there are rare cases of outstanding performance among players who have transferred was also a reason for decreasing the position of the second draft.
After it was abolished, voices began to emerge saying, “The second draft is still the best alternative for players desperate for opportunities,” and KBO and clubs also actively reviewed it. The regulation changes related to the second draft announced on the 12th added more safety devices than before.
The list of protected players was reduced from 40 to 35, but a new rule was made to make designated players compulsory to register for the first team. If the regulations (50 days or more for round 1 and 30 days or more for round 2) are not met, the right to own the player will expire after the end of the second season, either by returning to the original club or by public announcement as a free agent player. It is not certain whether this rule will be a ‘handshake’ or a ‘handshake’, but at least the clubs can be more careful in selecting players in the second draft.메이저놀이터
In addition, the bottom 3 teams in the previous year’s rankings can nominate players up to 5 rounds, and in the past, if the upper round nomination was passed, subsequent nominations were not possible, but now, even if the upper round is passed, the lower round nomination is possible. It’s a way to somehow make more players transfer actively.
It is definitely the players who welcome the news of the second draft’s revival the most. In particular, among players who show good skills in the 2nd team, there are not a few cases where they do not get a chance to play because their team’s 1st team is so solid. For these players, the 2nd draft can be a new path. Also, from the point of view of a club with weak depth, it is a great opportunity to make the power much thicker by recruiting a 1.5-class player. There is a possibility that the transfer through the upgraded second draft this fall will be a variable toward the 2024 season.