Doosan Bears players, who were investigated by the prosecution for receiving drugs by Oh Jae-won, will immediately join the closing camp to prepare for the 2025 season.
KBO held a reward and punishment committee in the KBO conference room on the 4th and deliberated on eight Doosan players: Kim Min-hyuk, Kim In-tae, Park Gye-beom, Park Ji-hoon, Ahn Seung-han, Lee Seung-jin, Jang Seung-hyun, and Je Hwan-yu. The punishment committee announced on the 5th that it has decided to sanction all eight players for 80 hours of community service based on Article 151 [Dignity Damage Act] of the KBO Covenant.
In April this year, the baseball world was devastated by a character named Oh Jae-won. This is because Oh Jae-won was accused of receiving 2,365 tablets of steelnox and Xanax, medical drugs, from 14 people, including former and current baseball players, 85 times from May 2021 to March this year. Of these 14 players, Doosan players accounted for more than half, with a whopping eight.
It was in April that Doosan recognized this fact. Doosan conducted its own full investigation right after the report on Oh Jae-won came out, and the players also confessed that they were prescribed substitute drugs. Doosan immediately reported the fact to the KBO Clean Baseball Center and took follow-up measures. The reason why the players had no choice but to participate in such illegal activities was because Oh Jae-won used his position to assault and intimidate them.
Eventually, the players were eliminated as second-tier players due to drug substitute prescriptions and were unable to participate in the team’s training, waiting for the prosecution to investigate, and Doosan was also severely damaged by the Oh Jae-won incident. Among the eight players, Kim In-tae, Park Gye-beom, Jang Seung-hyun and Kim Min-hyuk were players who could be a big help to the first team as the main or backup, because they had never even used them.
And after the regular season, the disposition of the players who were prescribed drugs by proxy to Oh Jae-won was decided. In October, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office’s violent crime investigation department summarily indicted two of the players who were prescribed substitute, suspended three of the remaining two from the probation office for the leading conditional prosecution, and suspended nine from the education conditional prosecution. The two players who were summarily indicted received a summary order of a fine of 3 million won on the 31st of last month.
As the prosecution disposed of all the players, KBO was also able to take a move, and on the 4th, a reward and punishment committee was held to punish them for 80 hours of community service. KBO explained, “We decided to impose sanctions in consideration of the fact that it was difficult for players to reject demands by coercion and intimidation from senior players, that they could not play most of the season due to the club’s actions, and that they admitted their mistakes and turned themselves in.”
Both Doosan and its players will be able to breathe a sigh of relief. Given that the suspension is not a severe disciplinary measure, the team can prepare for the 2025 season from now on. Kim Min-hyuk, Kim In-tae, Park Gye-beom, Park Ji-hoon, Lee Seung-jin, Jang Seung-hyun and Je Hwan-yu, who had not been able to participate in the training for the second team, will join the wrap-up camp that will take place at Bears Park in Icheon on Wednesday.
Doosan made the postseason stage for the second consecutive year with 74 wins, two draws and 68 losses with a winning rate of 0.521, even without eight players available this year. If they prepare for the 2025 season from now on and recover their normal condition, Doosan will be able to manage the team with a little more leeway than this year. And if there is no major power drain, Doosan can be greedy for a higher ranking. 메이저놀이터
