The contract of Sim Jun-seok (19), who was considered one of the biggest draft words in the 2023 rookie draft and declared a major league challenge, entered the countdown. While there are many opinions that the atmosphere is not bad, the outlook for the size of the down payment, which is attracting the most attention, is a bit mixed.
The major league international amateur contract signing pool will be initialized on January 15th. As is the case every year, it is expected that after January 15th, the contracts of promising players from all over the world will be signed simultaneously. In the case of top prospects, there are many cases where the story with a specific club is over. It is a method of making an agreement in advance and signing the contract after January 15th. Shim Jun-seok is also expected to make a decision in some way sooner or later. Multiple scouts from KBO League clubs also explained, “I heard that they will sign a contract soon.”
Many major league clubs have already checked Jun-seok Shim, and clubs such as Pittsburgh have high-ranking officials visiting Korea to watch Shim Jun-seok pitching. This is evidence of considerable interest. An official familiar with the situation predicted, “There are clubs that have withdrawn from Shim Jun-seok’s race, but still two or three clubs continue to keep an eye on the situation. I wonder if there will be a team that signs a contract with them.”
The evaluation of Shim Jun-seok was somewhat mixed last year. There were major league clubs that gave high evaluations for the formidable pitch and excellent physique conditions that could hit more than 150 km per hour. Conversely, it cannot be denied that there were clubs that paid close attention to the issue of ball control and physical condition. Major league clubs cannot catch all players as there is a limit on international amateur players contracts. It is expected that a close comparison will be made with Central and South American players such as Dominica.
However, there were also favorable reviews. The official Major League Baseball website (MLB.com) also selected Shim Jun-seok as the second pitcher and the 10th overall in the International Amateur Draft Rankings last October. It was evaluated that he was competitive in terms of his physique, fast ball, and curve. MLB.com said, “Scouts are pointing to Shim Jun-seok as the best shoulder 메이저놀이터 (pitcher) in this international draft.” MLB.com’s report is unusual in that it relies heavily on the evaluations of clubs and scouts.
For this reason, there is a prospect that the size of Shim Jun-seok’s down payment will not be so disappointing. Even if it is not a super-special contract that reaches 2 million dollars, it is the highest class among pitchers, so 1 million dollars is the default and more is possible. An agent said, “Basically, in the international amateur player market, fielders are more highly valued than pitchers. There are not as many cases of pitchers exceeding $1 million as expected.” Wouldn’t that be possible?” he added with a personal outlook.
On the other hand, there are also opinions that it will not be easy to win 1 million dollars, citing the fact that the evaluation of major league scouts last year has fallen from before. It’s not cheap, but it’s not expected to be a jackpot either. A KBO League club scout tilted his head at the $1 million standard and said he couldn’t be sure, saying “there were no favorable conditions.”
Shim Jun-seok signed an early contract with Boras Corporation, the largest agency in the major leagues. An employee of Boras Corporation had already attached and managed Shim Jun-seok for a year. As he is an agency with wide feet, it can be expected that he will make a sufficiently convincing presentation based on Shim Jun-seok’s strengths. Among the players who recently signed a contract with a major league team after graduating from high school, the player who received the most contract money was Pittsburgh Bae Ji-hwan with $1.25 million.