“I will strive for greater happiness”
Hwang Young-mook, an infielder for the independent baseball team Yeoncheon Miracle, was selected by the Hanwha Eagles in the 2024 KBO rookie draft held at the Westin Chosun Seoul on September 13. Ranked 31st overall in the 4th round. This is the second time that a Yeoncheon Miracle player has been selected in the rookie draft, following infielder Son Ho-young, who was selected by the LG Twins in 2019.
Hwang Young-mook participated in the 2024 KBO rookie draft as a ‘high school/college dropout player’ and showed good skills in the KBO tryout held earlier. In this position, he received the attention of scouts from 10 professional baseball teams and emerged as a “leading candidate for nomination” in the draft.
Hwang Young-mook, who plays an active part as the core of Yeoncheon Miracle’s infield and batting line, graduated from Anyang Chunghun High School and entered Chung-Ang University. However, due to difficulties in his college life, he played in the independent baseball team’s Gyeonggido League since 2019. Hwang Young-mook, a four-year independent leaguer who has played for Yeoncheon Miracle since 2022 after playing in Seongnam City and Gwangju City, is attracting attention as an infielder with decent batting ability, including recording hits and cycling hits in 23 consecutive games, and the ability to play all infield positions. received.
He also appeared on ‘JTBC’s Strongest Baseball’ and ‘KBS Youth Baseball Team: Not Out Yet’, making a good impression and introducing himself to the public first.
Unlike other players who participated in Rookie Draft, Hwang Young-mook chose to play in an independent league and continued his career as a player. As a college dropout, he had to wait four years for the draft and had difficulties during his military service, but he overcame all of these and entered the professional world.
In an interview immediately after being nominated, Hwang Young-mook said, “As much as I go to a good team, I will become a player worthy of it,” and added, “I hope there will be more good things in the future, and I will try to bring greater happiness as the difficult times have been,” and thanked the team that has supported him so far. “I love and thank my parents,” he said of his nomination.
He added, “I would also like to thank the officials of Yeoncheon County Office who laid the foundation for us to reach this point and provided strong support to Yeoncheon Miracle, an independent league team.”
Yeoncheon Miracle, based in Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi-do, is showing good results, including winning the 2022 Gyeonggi-do League and the 2023 Gyeonggi-do League regular season championship with the support of Yeoncheon-gun.
-Hwang Young-mook Profile
Selected by Hanwha Eagles with the 31st pick in the 4th round of the 2024 KBO Draft
Education: Seongil Middle School – Chunghun High School – Chung-Ang University (dropped out)
Independent League Experience: Yeoncheon Miracle (2022-2023)
– Gwangju Hyenas (2021)
– Seongnam Blue Panthers (2019) )