Is this the first year of rookie award in 2025? Or is this the second year of rookie award after training and adaptation.먹튀검증

Last year's rookie award went to Kim Taek-yeon of the Doosan Bears. As the ace for the youth team when he was a junior at Incheon High School, he garnered attention with his top pitching capabilities even before his debut as a pro player. He displayed good pitching in practice games with the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) team, and also struck out both batters in a special match against the Los Angeles Dodgers in March. He also secured his position as a closing pitcher with three wins, two losses, four holds, 19 saves and an earned run average of 2.08. His 19 saves were the highest in the history of high school graduates.

Major rookies who were drafted in the 2025 Rookie Draft last year are also dreaming of becoming the next Kim Taek-yeon. The most talked about among rookies in their first year is Chung Hyeon-woo (Kium Heroes), the first choice. Chung pitched in 16 games of high school baseball last year, displaying unrivaled performance with eight wins, no losses and an earned run average of 0.58 during 48 1/3 innings. Even before the draft, he booked the first and second spots with fastball right-hander Jung Woo-ju (Hanwha Eagles), who threw up to 156 kilometers per hour, and Chung, who is more complete, won the first place.

Jung Woo-joo is also Chung's best rival this year. Unlike Jung Woo-joo, who joined the top-tier camp, Chung is not included in the list of campers. Still, Chung has the upper hand in the competition for the Rookie of the Year award. Hanwha, which has two foreign pitchers, Ryu Hyun-jin, Um Sang-baek and Moon Dong-ju, already announced that Jung would be appointed as its bullpen pitcher. Hanwha manager Kim Kyung-moon said, "You don't have to have high expectations. Players also feel pressured. We will send them to the team first to deal with defeat, which is a comfortable situation, and see how they fight against senior batters."

Unlike the Hanwha Eagles, Kiwoom manager Hong Won-ki has included Chung Hyeon-woo in the starting lineup. Unlike the Hanwha Eagles, the starting lineup is not complete. Ha Young-min (9 wins, 8 losses, 4.37 ERA) is the only Korean pitcher who played the stipulated innings last year. Kim Yoon-ha and Kim In-beom showed potential as starting pitchers, but they have yet to prove their skills as full-season starting pitchers. If Chung settles down in the rotation alone, he can significantly outperform his competitors.

Park Jun-soon (Doosan Bears), considered the biggest fish among fielders, should overcome the competition. When he was a senior at Deoksu High School, he won Shinsegae E-Mart's batting award, RBI award, home run award, MVP award, Golden Lion batting award and MVP award, and was named the fastest among fielders. He played second base in high school, but Doosan is trying to convert Kang Seung-ho, the main second baseman, into third baseman. He will compete with Lee Yoo-chan, Park Gye-beom, Park Joon-young, and Yeo Dong-gun for the vacant position of the Keystone duo. As there is no solid starting pitcher, it is worth looking forward to a soft landing in the first division if he secures a competitive advantage. Park Joon-soon said, "I will aim to become the first team until the end of the first half. My ultimate goal is to become the Rookie of the Year, but I will take it step by step."

Rookie of the Year honors not only players in their first year of the league. Players who have played under five years of age, 30 innings as pitchers, or under 60 at-bats as batters are eligible for the Rookie of the Year award even if they are not in their first year of the league.

Moon Dong-ju, who won the Rookie of the Year award prior to Kim Taek-yeon, is also in his second year. He has drawn attention as a fastball thrown since Gwangju Jinheung High School, but in 2023, his first year, he focused on recovering from his injury and recorded just one win, four losses and two holds with an ERA of 5.65 in 13 games. Thanks to not being greedy in his first year, he grew to eight wins, eight losses and an ERA of 3.72 in 23 games in 2023 and won the Rookie of the Year award without difficulty. Jeong Cheol-won (Doosan), who won the Rookie of the Year award before Moon Dong-ju, is also a "middle and high school rookie." He joined the team in 2018 but failed to make his first-team debut, and made his first-team debut in 2022, his fifth year in the league, and recorded four wins, three losses, 23 saves, and an ERA of 3.10 and took the Rookie of the Year award.

Among pitchers in the second year who have maintained their eligibility for Rookie of the Year, the most notable one is Yuk Sun-yeop (17 walks in 17 innings) in the first division last year. Yuk played in 11 games in the first division last year, but played in only 17 innings and posted an ERA of 5.29. Even though his performance in the first division was not impressive, he proved his performance in the second division. Having played in 20 Futures League games, he posted two losses and two saves, displaying good pitching with an ERA of 2.70. He posted an batting average of 0.229. However, "Anxiety in ball control" (17 walks in the first division) is another issue for him, who had 31 walks in 40 innings in the second division.

In his third year in the league, Shin Young-woo (NC Dinos), who pitched 9 1/3 innings since his debut in the first division last year, is also highly anticipated. Having displayed both top-notch ball control and ball control instability since his high school days, Shin posted an ERA of 4.84 in 14 Futures League games last year. Still, he is unstable in ball control. During 48 1/3 innings, he had 40 walks and 11 pitches. However, he had a whopping 69 strikeouts. He also recently visited the Perth Heat of the Australian Baseball Organization, and confirmed his potential by posting 31 1/3 innings of 3 wins, 1 loss and an ERA of 3.45. He returned to Korea early after feeling uncomfortable with elbow injury, but it was an offseason enough to make people look forward to 2025.