After all, there were no Bears for life. Why did the Doosan man choose to go to Suwon when he said, “Don’t worry, I’ll stay at Doosan forever?”
KT Wiz of professional baseball officially announced on the 8th, “We signed an FA contract with infielder Heo Kyung-min (34) for a total of 4 billion won (down payment of 1.6 billion won, annual salary of 1.8 billion won, and option of 600 million won) for four years.”
Huh Kyung-min, who was the main third baseman of the Doosan Bears, was listed as 20 free agent (FA) approved players in 2025 announced by the KBO (Korea Baseball Organization) on the 5th. After the end of the 2024 season, he gave up his three-year, 2 billion won player option with Doosan and exercised his second FA right after his debut, and entered the free agent market.
Huh Kyung-min signed his first career FA contract with his original team Doosan on December 10, 2020. The condition is 4+3 years, with a total of 6.5 billion won, including a down payment of 2.5 billion won and an annual salary of 4 billion won, and four years later, Doosan’s first player option clause of 3 years and 2 billion won was added.
After signing the FA contract, Huh Kyung-min left a batting average of 286 (4,99 hits in 1,746) in 502 games, 27 homers, 228 RBIs, 29 steals, 233 runs scored, and OPS.743. He contributed greatly to the mirror-cle journey from the wild card game to the Korean Series in the first year of his contract, and led his team to return to the autumn stage for the first time in two years with Lee Seung-yeop, who took the helm without any experience as a leader in the 2023 season.
In the final year of his four-year FA contract in the 2024 season, Huh Kyung-min recorded a batting average of 399 runs, 129 hits, seven homers, 61 RBIs, five steals, 69 points and OPS.811. Despite various injury factors such as fine damage to the right shoulder and atrial dislocation of the little finger, he played 477 at-bats in offense and 883 innings in defense, showing the best performance among the four years of his FA contract.
Four years have passed and Heo is facing another moment of choice. The key was whether to exercise player options or not. After the four-year contract ended, Heo signed the contract in which the player, not the club, takes the initiative in renewing the contract. The terms of the contract were Heo Kyung-min would receive an additional 2 billion won (approx. If he wants to stay at Doosan, he would receive an additional 2 billion won (25.6 million U.S. dollars) for three years, and if he wants a higher amount of money, he would declare himself an FA and be valued again in the market.
Heo Kyung-min, who gave up 2 billion won for three years, met with Doosan, his original team, on the 7th. He sought to become a lifelong Bearsman through his second FA contract.
Heo was reportedly offered a three-plus-one-year contract worth 3 billion won (approx. While attractive options such as a retirement ceremony and leadership training were added to the deal, Heo chose KT, which guaranteed a four-year contract period.
Huh Kyung-min’s trip to KT was truly shocking news for Doosan fans. Heo Kyung-min, the “16-year-old Bears Man,” was more affectionate and loyal to Doosan than anyone else. At the time of his first FA contract, he said, “I was so grateful for the seven-year period than the amount. I will keep the hearts of Doosan fans who wanted me to stay for seven years,” and reassured fans by saying, “I will continue to be at Doosan in the future, so don’t worry.”
After signing a contract with KT, Heo visited Jamsil Stadium instead and exchanged his last greetings with the team’s front desk including general manager Kim Tae-ryong, and remained loyal. “He visited the office in person and exchanged words of blessing with the team’s front desk and said goodbye,” a Doosan official told OSEN. “The team thanked Heo for his dedication over 15 years and wished him well.”
After confirming his trip to KT, Huh Kyung-min said, “I deeply appreciate the club that recognized my value. I will do my best to contribute to my second win at KT, which has become a strong team in the KBO League,” adding, “It was a very difficult decision to leave the team I have been with for more than 10 years. I sincerely thank the Doosan fans for their support, and I will repay them by playing my best as a professional player.” 메이저사이트
