Ji-man Choi’s return to the KBO has not yet reached the stage of a confirmed team selection or player contract. However, the procedures and schedule that a player with an overseas professional career must follow to return to the domestic league have taken shape. As of August 30, Choi is preparing for his return while playing Futures League games for the Ulsan Whales, and a tryout schedule for participation in the KBO Rookie Draft has been announced.
Key Change: Players With MLB Experience Also Go Through the KBO Rookie Draft Process
Ji-man Choi was scheduled to participate in the tryout held at the Goyang National Baseball Training Center on September 1, 2026, in order to enter the 2027 KBO Rookie Draft. The KBO announced that the 2027 Rookie Draft event would be held on September 21. Accordingly, Choi’s return to Korea will not be decided immediately based solely on his past MLB career; he must go through eligibility review, a tryout, draft selection, and a subsequent contract.
According to the KBO announcement, players with overseas amateur or professional experience, as well as certain players who left school before graduation, may be eligible for the Rookie Draft and tryout if they meet the requirements and pass document screening. Choi’s case illustrates the institutional process that applies when a player with an overseas professional career returns to the KBO.
The key point is not that his return has been finalized, but that the official evaluation and selection procedures for a return have begun.
Current Status: Testing His Game Readiness With the Ulsan Whales
Choi signed a one-year contract with the Ulsan Whales in April 2026, with an annual salary of KRW 30 million. Through August 29, he had appeared in 20 KBO Futures League games for Ulsan, batting .308 with one home run, seven RBIs, and an .847 OPS. These are competitive results recorded while preparing for a return to the domestic league, but they do not represent a KBO team selection or contract.
Choi’s career regular-season MLB statistics are a .234 batting average, 67 home runs, and 238 RBIs in 525 games. In 2020, as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays, he also became the first Korean position player to appear in the World Series. This background has drawn significant attention to his entry into the Rookie Draft, but teams may also evaluate his current physical condition and potential use in the domestic league.
The currently confirmed status can be summarized as follows:
- He signed a one-year contract with the Ulsan Whales and played in the Futures League.
- A tryout schedule has been announced for his participation in the KBO Rookie Draft.
- As of August 30, no KBO team selection or player contract had been confirmed.
- Some media outlets’ projections of a first-round selection are analyses, not official draft results.
Impact: Evaluation Factors That Could Determine His Draft Position
Some media outlets and commentators have projected that Choi could be selected in the first round. However, this is an analysis, not an official result. The factors discussed in evaluations include not only his hitting ability but also the condition of his knee recovery and whether he can play defense. His 67 career MLB home runs are clearly an important point of interest, but his actual draft position can only be confirmed after the tryout and each team’s evaluation.
There were also reports that Choi expressed regret toward student players while preparing for his return to Korea. However, this cannot be taken to mean that he would receive special bonus points in the draft. No information has been confirmed that the KBO granted Choi a separate advantage. Readers should therefore distinguish between his past career, Futures League performance, physical condition, and defensive usability.
Another issue is the two-year deferment rule applied to overseas players. Under Article 107 of the KBO regulations, a player who has signed with a foreign professional club cannot sign a player contract with a KBO club for two years after the contract ends. Choi does not oppose the purpose of the rule, but he has said, in substance, that he opposes abolishing it outright and believes some improvements are needed.
In other words, Choi’s position is closer to calling for improvements to how the system is applied during overseas players’ return process than to calling for the rule to be eliminated. There is no confirmation that the rule has been abolished or amended, and the current return process is proceeding on the basis of the existing eligibility requirements and review.
Next Checkpoints: The Draft and Contract After the Tryout
To determine whether Choi will return to the KBO, the first things to examine are the tryout results and the subsequent Rookie Draft selection results. The KBO-announced 2027 Rookie Draft event is scheduled for September 21. However, the approaching draft date must be distinguished from the completion of an actual selection and contract.
The order of confirmation is as follows:
- Confirm his participation in and evaluation results from the tryout.
- Confirm whether he is selected in the Rookie Draft scheduled for September 21.
- Confirm whether an actual player contract is signed after the selection.
- If a contract is completed, reconfirm his team and intended position.
As of August 30, there was no official confirmation that the process had reached this final stage. Therefore, the most accurate description at present is that “Ji-man Choi is building game experience with the Ulsan Whales while preparing for a KBO return through the Rookie Draft and tryout, drawing on his MLB career.” The possibility of a first-round selection may be considered as a projection, but the final judgment must be confirmed through an official selection result and contract announcement.