2027 KBO Rookie Draft to Be Held on 21st

The 2027 KBO Rookie Draft will take place at 2:00 p.m. on the 21st at the Crystal Ballroom of Lotte Hotel World in Songpa-gu, Seoul.

The draft will be conducted in a full-draft format from the 1st to the 11th rounds. The selection order will be the reverse of the 2025 team standings: the Kiwoom Heroes, Doosan Bears, KIA Tigers, Lotte Giants, kt wiz, NC Dinos, Samsung Lions, SSG Landers, Hanwha Eagles, and LG Twins.

Through trades, NC acquired Samsung's 3rd-round draft pick.

Consequently, if all 10 clubs exercise all of their draft picks, NC will select 12 new players, Samsung 10, and the remaining 8 clubs 11 players each.

This year's draft eligible players total 1,280, consisting of 891 high school graduates, 326 university graduates, 43 early draft applicants, and 20 other players including overseas amateurs and former professionals.

Players from the KBO Next-Level Training Camp, which the KBO has hosted annually since 2022 to intensively foster amateur prospects, will also participate.

In last year's rookie draft, 20 players from this camp were selected, four of whom were called in the 1st round.

Ha Hyun-seung of Busan High School, Kim Ji-woo of Seoul High School, and Park Geun-seo of Seoul Design High School, who are currently competing in the U-18 Asian Baseball Championship taking place in Taiwan, are being mentioned as top-round candidates.

Attention is also focused on which club will select Choi Ji-man of the Ulsan Whales, who hit 67 home runs in 525 career Major League Baseball (MLB) games.

He also participated in the tryout held on the 1st for overseas amateurs and former professionals.

In last year's rookie draft, Park Jun-hyun (Kiwoom), Shin Jae-in (NC), and Oh Jae-won (Hanwha) were selected as the top three overall picks.

Admission tickets for the venue will be provided to 70 baseball fans selected through a lottery.

Among them, 40 fans will receive 2 tickets each and 30 fans 1 ticket each, allowing a total of 110 people to attend.

Applications can be submitted on the KBO official website from 10:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. on the 10th.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.