There was no unanimity in the declaration...157km Bukil High School's Park Joon-hyun goes to Kiwoom as the first overall player

Sep 17, 2025

There was no unanimity in the declaration...157km Bukil High School's Park Joon-hyun goes to Kiwoom as the first overall player
The 80th Blue Dragon High School Baseball Championship and the weekend league king match between Bukil High School and Incheon High School held at Mokdong Stadium in Seoul on the 5th. Park Jun-hyun of Bukil High School pitching. Mokdong = Song Jeong-heon Reporter's songs@sportschosun.com/2025.07.05/



"First place in all" went to Park Jun-hyun without any unexpected incident.

KBO hosted the rookie draft at Lotte Hotel World Crystal Ballroom in Seoul on the 17th.

Kiwoom Heroes, which has the No. 1 overall nomination right, named Bukil High School pitcher Park Joon-hyun without unexpected changes. Park Joon-hyun was 2-1 with a 2.63 ERA in 10 games this season. Park Joon-hyun, who is also the son of former Doosan Bears coach Park Seok-min, was considered the biggest fish early on, throwing a fastball of up to 157 kilometers.




Kiwoom took the lead early on with Park Joon-hyun's nomination. There was no need to worry about it, as he showed extraordinary talent enough to receive an offer from a major league club.

Kiwoom's general manager Huh Seung-pil said, `He is the best high school rookie in name and reality. The ball power coming from a sluggish body and stable pitching balance is overwhelming. He also explained that he is very likely to grow into a player who will represent the league.

Immediately after the nomination, Park Joon-hyun said "The goal was to become the first overall player since the beginning of baseball. Thank you to Kiwoom Heroes officials for achieving that goal. And thank you so much to my parents who always took care of me and gave me a lot of strength. Thank you to the director of Bukil High School. Thank you to the coach who taught me from the beginning of baseball. Lastly, I hope to be nominated as a professional with my friends for 3 years together. Even if it's not possible, I hope we can play baseball together for 2 or 3 years."




When his father, coach Park Seok-min, who attended the meeting, shed tears, Park Joon-hyun said, `I didn't see my father crying well…," he said with a smile.

There was no unanimity in the declaration...157km Bukil High School's Park Joon-hyun goes to Kiwoom as the first overall player
The 80th Blue Dragon High School Baseball Championship and the weekend league king match between Bukil High School and Incheon High School held at Mokdong Stadium in Seoul on the 5th. Park Jun-hyun of Bukil High School pitching. Mokdong = Song Jeong-heon Reporter's songs@sportschosun.com/2025.07.05/
The 2026 KBO Rookie Draft will be carried out in a full draft method. The nomination will be made from round 1 to round 11, followed by Kiwoom-NC-Hanwha-Lotte-SSG-KT-Doosan-LG-Samsung-KIA, which is the reverse order of the team's ranking in 2024.

In accordance with the KBO rules, there were three cases in which the 2026 rookie designation rights were traded with players, a total of four transfers of designation rights. NC has the third and fourth round nominations received from Hanwha and SSG, respectively, while Kiwoom has the first and fourth round nominations received from KIA. Therefore, if all clubs exercise all nomination rights, Kiwoom and NC will appoint 13 players, Hanwha and SSG 10 players, KIA 9 players, and other clubs 11 players will wear KBO league team uniforms.




A total of 1,261 people are eligible for this year's rookie draft, including 930 high school graduates, 261 college graduates, 51 early draft applicants, and 19 other players, including overseas flax and professionals.

Players from the KBO Next-Level Training Camp, which has been held every year since 2022 to foster amateur prospects intensively, will also participate in the draft. Fifteen people were selected in the 2025 rookie draft, especially three in the first round.



This article was translated by Naver AI translator.