Shin-soo Choo, KBO’s annual salary of 2.7 billion won… Lee Dae-ho to 8th place ↓

Shinsegae Baseball Team Choo Shin-soo, who received 2.7 billion won this year and quickly became’KBO’s annual salary king’ [뉴스1]

Choo Shin-soo (39), who played 16 years in the major leagues and signed a contract with the Shinsegae Group E-Mart baseball team, quickly became the’salary king’ of Korean professional baseball. According to the status of the 2021 squad’s annual salary released by KBO on the 4th, Choo Shin-soo broke the record for the highest annual salary in the KBO League with 2.7 billion won this year.

Lee Dae-ho of the Lotte Giants handed over the 1st place in KBO’s annual salary, which he kept for four years from 2017, to Shin-soo Choo, the same age group. After finishing his career in Japanese and American professional baseball, he returned to his parent team and signed a contract for a total of 15 billion won (deposit 5 billion won, annual salary of 2.5 billion won each) for four years. This year, when he became a free agent (FA) again, he signed a two-year total of 2.6 billion won (down payment of 800 million won, annual salary of 800 million won, and options each of 100 million won) and fell to eighth place.

According to the contract results of the two players, the highest-paid players for each position have also changed. Of course, Choo Shin-soo is the top outfielder’s annual salary. Lotte Son Ah-seop, who ranked first with 2 billion won last year, fell to 8th place in the outfielder division with an annual salary of 500 million won this year. The big cutback is Son A-seop’s strategic choice. After reacquiring free agency status at the end of this year, he drastically lowered his salary for the last season of the contract to reduce the burden of compensation when transferring. LG Twins Kim Hyun-soo (1 billion won) has risen to second place in the outfielder category, which is 1.7 billion won less than Choo Shin-soo.

The number one infielder’s annual salary is Kiwoom Heroes Park Byeong-ho, who receives 1.5 billion won. As Lee Dae-ho’s annual salary declined, Park Byeong-ho, second place last year, naturally rose to the top. Doosan Bears Heo Gyeong-min jumped from 13th place (480 million won) in infielder last year to 3rd place (1 billion won) this year. This is the result of signing an FA contract with Doosan at the end of last year for up to 8.5 billion won in 4+3 years.

Choo Shin-soo and Lee Dae-ho and their classmates, Samsung Lions Oh Seung-hwan, received the highest annual salary among pitchers in the KBO league this year. As Yang Hyeon-jong (Texas Rangers), who received 2.3 billion won last year, left for the United States, Oh Seung-hwan’s ranking also rose one step. Second place is Hanwha Eagles Jung Woo-ram (800 million won). Only in the catcher sector, NC Dinos Euiji Yang (1.5 billion won) maintained the same number as last year.

Reporter Bae Youngeun [email protected]