Infielder Choi Ju-hwan (35) has moved to the Kiwoom Heroes with the first overall pick in the second round of the KBO Draft.

Choi was selected by Kiwoom with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 KBO Secondary Draft held behind closed doors on Feb. 22.

Choi, who played for the Doosan Bears since 2006, became a free agent at the end of the 2020 season and signed a four-year, maximum 4.2 billion won contract with the SK Wyverns (formerly the SSG Landers).

Choi appeared in 134 games this year, batting .235 (100-for-426) with 20 home runs and 63 RBIs.

For his career, Choi is batting .297 with 115 home runs and 594 RBIs in 1,268 games.

Being selected in the second round of the draft meant that he did not make SSG’s 35-man protected list.

SSG also sent veteran outfielder Kim Kang-min, 41, to the Hanwha Eagles with the 22nd pick in the fourth round, infielder Choi Hang to Lotte with the 15th pick in the third round, and pitcher Cho Sung-hoon to Kiwoom with the 21st pick in the fourth round.

Hanwha selected LG Twins pitcher Lee Sang-gyu with the second overall pick, and the Samsung Lions also selected LG pitcher Choi Sung-hoon with the third overall pick.

The Doosan Bears selected LG catcher Kim Ki-yeon, while the SSG Landers called up NC Dinos catcher Park Dae-on. KT WIZ took Samsung pitcher Woo Kyu-min.

Lotte Giants, KIA Tigers, NC, and LG gave up their first-round picks.

Kiwoom pitcher Yang Hyun went to Samsung with the eighth pick in the second round and infielder Oh Sun-jin went to Lotte with the ninth pick in the second round.

In terms of players drafted, LG, SSG, and NC tied for the most with four, followed by KIA (three), Doosan and Kiwoom (two each), and Samsung, Hanwha, and KT (one each). No one was selected from Lotte.

In this draft, 10 clubs selected players in the third round in reverse order of their performance this season. The bottom three teams can select up to two more players, bringing the total to five.

In an effort to prevent a team from getting a bunch of players in the second round, a team is limited to a maximum of four players.

The transfer fee that a team must pay to a player’s former club is 400 million won in the first round, 300 million won in the second round, and 200 million won in the third round.

The secondary draft was held biennially from 2011 to 2019 and then abolished in 2021, but was revived after two years as the futures (second-team) free agent system became unpopular. 파워볼사이트