The eight existing teams in the top-division South Korean professional baseball league decided on Tuesday to supply an expansion team with extra rookies and foreign players to help smooth its entry into the league.

During their six-hour meeting over the future of the new club, to be run by local online game company NCsoft, the eight team presidents of the Korea Baseball Organization agreed that the expansion team would be granted the top two selections at an annual rookie draft in each of its first two years. And after the end of two rounds at the 10-round draft, the new team will receive five extra picks for its first two seasons.

In addition, the team officials said they would allow the ninth team to acquire four foreign players and place three on the active roster for its first two seasons. Imports in the KBO, some of whom have MLB playing experience, often account for a major portion of their team’s offense or pitching. Existing teams can only put two foreign players in their active lineups. “We had in-depth discussions on how to supply players for the expansion team, and there were heated moments,” Lee Sang-il, secretary-general of the KBO, said. 

(Yonhap News)