Prospective amateur baseball pitcher Jang Hyeon-seok (19, Masan Yongma High School) announced that he would advance to the Major League (MLB). He was selected as the final entry for the Hangzhou Asian Games (AG) baseball team held in September, and the ‘suitability’ controversy is accelerating inside and outside the baseball world.꽁머니사이트

Jang Hyun-suk announced his position on the 1st through his management company Ricoh Sports Agency, saying, “I have made up my mind to challenge the world’s best stage (MLB).” The deadline for participation in the 2024 KBO Rookie Draft was August 15th. Jang Hyun-suk was a fireballer who threw a fastball at 150km per hour, and was evaluated as the ‘biggest rookie fish’ early on. Although he was expected to be the first overall pick, he made it clear that he would negotiate with MLB clubs without submitting a draft application.

The overseas expansion of promising players is more like an annual event. Even last year, Shim Jun-seok (graduated from Deoksu High School), the greatest pitcher, signed a contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Prospective hitter Cho Won-bin (graduated from Seoul Convention High School) also wore the St. Louis Cardinals uniform. Jang Hyun-suk has a slightly different texture. The spirit of challenge to the world’s best stage deserves applause, but there are several question marks in that he is the Hangzhou AG baseball representative.

Jang Hyun-seok was named in the final entry (24 players) of the Hangzhou AG baseball team announced in June. AG, where military service benefits are given upon winning a gold medal, is a ‘dream tournament’ that unskilled professional baseball players want to play in. AG baseball, where Japan and Taiwan do not recruit professional players, is one of the gold medal-winning events in which the national team is aiming for a fourth consecutive victory. Through the high competition rate, the final entry was decided, and Jang Hyun-seok was the only amateur baseball player selected.

In previous AGs, at the request of the Korea Baseball Softball Association, Jeong Jae-bok (then Hanyang University) in 2002, Jung Min-hyeok (then Yonsei University) in 2006, Kim Myeong-seong (then Chung-Ang University) in 2010, and Hong Seong-moo (then Dong-eui University) in 2014 wore the Taegeuk mark as amateurs. Among high school students, Jang Hyun-seok is the first in history. According to the AG results, he could become the ‘first high school player in history to receive military service benefits and sign a contract with an MLB club’. This is where the controversy over the suitability of the national team arises.

Currently, the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) is systematically preventing the indiscriminate outflow of prospects. Article 107 of the KBO Rules [Special Cases for Foreign Players] stipulates, ‘A player who has attended high school or higher in Korea and signed a player contract with a foreign professional team without being registered as a member of a Korean professional team is not eligible for a player contract with a foreign professional team. It is stated that players cannot sign contracts with KBO clubs for two years from the date of termination. Even if a player who challenges the MLB organizes his life in the United States, he has to wait at least two years to play in the KBO league.

Jang Hyun-seok, who skipped the draft, will also be subject to this clause if he signs with a major league team in the future. It is pointed out that it is not right to give military service benefits to players who violate the special provisions related to overseas expansion. A professional baseball official pointed out, “Isn’t the generational change of the baseball team declared by the KBO considering the KBO league a priority?

The Hangzhou AG Technical Committee (Chairman Yeom Gyeong-yeop), formed in February of last year, discussed that even if an amateur player is selected for the final entry, the player should not have any intention to go abroad. I agreed with the general purpose that the great benefit of military service should be used for the development of the league. However, due to the impact of Corona 19, the tournament was postponed for a year, and the existing policy was discarded as a new Power Reinforcement Committee (Chairman Jo Gye-hyun) was formed.

It was a planned procedure for Jang Hyun-seok, the biggest player in high school, to join the national team. Depending on the result, his baseball life is expected to have wings. An ama baseball official asked back, “Even if he is the best player in high school, isn’t he playing the role of an ace in the AG national team?”