[News Figures] KBO Undrafted Choi Byung-yong, Goes Pro via MLB Draft

Former Shinil High School Infielder Overlooked by All 10 KBO Teams
Challenges MLB in the US... Drafted by San Diego

A player overlooked by the 10 KBO League teams was drafted by a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. The player is infielder Choi Byung-yong, a graduate of Shinil High School.

On the 11th (Korean time), the San Diego Padres selected Choi Byung-yong in the 2023 MLB Rookie Draft. In the U.S., his player name is registered as 'B.Y. Choi.'

Born in 2002 and a Shinil High School alumnus, Choi is a 189.5cm tall infielder. During his senior year at Shinil High School, he played in 23 games, recording 24 hits, 1 home run, 14 RBIs, 14 runs scored, a batting average of 0.282, and an OPS of 0.774.

However, he was not selected by any of the 10 KBO rookie draft teams. He then moved to the U.S. and enrolled at the New Mexico Military Institute, a two-year college, to continue playing baseball. Ultimately, he was drafted by San Diego in the 20th round, 611th overall, in the MLB draft. The 20th round was San Diego’s final pick.

Choi Byung-yong from the New Mexico Military Institute in the United States is hitting during the competition. Photo by Choi Byung-yong, Instagram capture.

The American media outlet San Diego Union-Tribune reported, "Choi Byung-yong was the only hitter selected on the last day of the rookie draft. In his sophomore season, he hit 15 home runs and posted a slash line of .448/.548/.881. This performance was enough to attract San Diego’s interest in a 6-foot-3-inch (190cm) infielder," sharing the news of Choi’s selection.

Choi’s selection by San Diego is known to be due to his impressive performance at the 'tryout' held last month. At that time, college players gathered at the team’s spring training facility in Arizona and gave their best in front of scouts to showcase their abilities. Namgung Hoon, San Diego’s Asia scout, told 'Kyunghyang Shinmun' in an interview, "Choi Byung-yong showed an impressive performance then, which seems to have earned him a good evaluation."

Meanwhile, San Diego, which drafted Choi Byung-yong, already has Kim Ha-seong, who demonstrates perfect infield defense, playing both second base and shortstop. Since last season, Kim Ha-seong has been recognized as a top-tier MLB defender, having been selected as a finalist for the Gold Glove. In an interview with a media outlet about his selection by San Diego, Choi expressed his ambition to play on the same stage as senior Kim Ha-seong.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.