One of the characteristics of the KBO League in 2025 is that the completion of salary negotiations for each club is a little slower than in previous years. This is even more so considering that there are only about 10 days left until the camp starts due to the adjustment of the inactive period.메이저사이트

Most of the players in each club have completed salary negotiations in 2025, but it is understood that there are some players left. Usually, clubs make collective announcements when all those eligible for renewal are concluded. As there is still some time before the camp starts, we are putting on the last pace. Still, there were no clubs and players who applied for salary arbitration to the KBO. It seems that they are avoiding unnecessary consumption and are in last-minute negotiations.

Doosan, SSG and Kiwoom are the three teams that concluded the 2025 salary negotiations by July 12. Doosan is the only team that signed the negotiations before the end of the year, followed by SSG and Kiwoom, respectively. Players who have significantly increased their salaries are drawing attention. Some players had a large increase in their salary, while others had a high increase in their salary. Usually, the former is players who already earn a certain level of annual salary, while the latter is up-and-coming players who did not earn much in the previous year but showed outstanding performance last year.

Among the players announced so far, Doosan closer Kim Taek-yeon (20), who posted the highest annual salary increase rate in 2025. Kim joined the team after being named Doosan`s first round player (second overall pick) in the rookie draft in 2024, and naturally received the lowest annual salary of 30 million won (27,540 U.S. dollars) as a rookie player in 2024. However, he pitched 65 innings in 60 games last year, posting outstanding performance of 3 wins, 2 losses, 19 saves, 4 holds and an ERA of 2.08. He was promoted to the closing team.

Kim Taek-yeon's salary in 2025 rose vertically to 140 million won (120,000 dollars). She has become an annual payoff worth billions of dollars. The annual pay increase rate amounts to 366.7 percent. She also tied with Cho So-jun's second-year salary as a high school graduate. Cho Byung-hyun (23), who showed outstanding performance after being promoted to the closing team of SSG, also received 30 million won (23,540 dollars) in 2024, but was recognized for his stellar performance last year and reached 135 million won (122,000 dollars). The rate of increase was 350 percent. This is also a very high figure, but it was slightly lower than that of Kim. Joo Seung-woo (140.6 percent) recorded the highest rate of increase for Kiwoom.

Attention is now being paid to whether there will be a player who will break Kim Taek-yeon's record in the remaining seven clubs. Basically, the increase rate is advantageous for players with low annual salary in the previous year. A player who received the lowest annual salary level must perform well last year and increase his annual salary vertically to hit more than 300%. Some teams say there are people who are eligible for such treatment.

Attention is focusing on the salary of Kim Do-young, who will become the MVP of the league in 2024. Kim was paid 100 million won in 2024. Although the raise rate is disadvantageous given that the basic salary is around 100 million won per year, he has been overwhelmed by his outstanding performance. Analysts say that Lee Jung-hoo (then Kiwoom) will earn more than 390 million won (390,000 dollars) in 2020, the highest salary in the fourth year of the KBO. If he receives 400 million won (464,700 dollars), his raise will be 300 percent. As discussions are believed to be over that, it is worth aiming for a 300 percent raise. There is also a chance that Kim could break the record.

Basically, an individual's salary is closely related to a team's performance in most cases. This is because teams have a system that calculates the size of their entire salaries based on team performance and distributes them according to individual performance. Players from Kia and Samsung, who had a showdown at the Korean Series last year, have a high possibility that even if they have the same performance, their pay will increase significantly. If so, it is worth paying attention to Kim Young-woong at Samsung.

With the exception of FA players such as Koo Ja-wook and Kang Min-ho, whose annual pay is already fixed for next year, and Won Tae-in, who already has a high salary of 430 million won (427,540 dollars) in 2024, Kim Ji-chan (160 million won in 2024) and Lee Jae-hyun (140 million won in 2024) also showed outstanding performances. However, given that they are already paid hundreds of millions of won per year, they are somewhat at a disadvantage in terms of the rate of increase. Kim Young-woong, on the other hand, received 38 million won (31,800 dollars) last year. Attention is also focusing on the rate of increase, as he is highly likely to be paid.

Kim Young-woong played in 126 games last year and recorded a batting average of 0.252, 28 homers, 79 RBIs, and 0.806 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS). He showed off his strong slugging capability by emerging as Samsung's main third baseman. If he could have played a little more, his performance would have been higher, but he basically performed outstandingly. Lee Jae-hyun, who stood out a little first, also has memories of doubling or even more annual salary increases, drawing much attention to Kim Young-woong's 2025 salary.