The Doosan Bears have decided to release Park Yoo-yeon (25), a promising catcher, on Tuesday, after holding him responsible for causing a stir by driving under the influence of alcohol. Doosan held its own disciplinary committee comprised of key officials from the team on the day, and the committee agreed to release the committee after much consideration. It was difficult to forgive Park's behavior itself, and it set an example to send a stronger message to the team to root out drunk driving.
Doosan admitted on the 9th that Park Yoo-yeon was suspended from her license for drunk driving. Park Yoo-yeon was caught drunk driving somewhere in Gyeonggi-do in the morning at the end of September, and her license was suspended on the end of October 100. Park Yoo-yeon did not report the information to the club. Doosan learned about Park Yoo-yeon's drunk driving after receiving an anonymous report nearly three months after the incident, and reported it to the KBO Clean Baseball Center as soon as it completed its own investigation.
A Doosan source told Spotify News about the committee's decision. "It's a big mistake to drive under the influence of alcohol. It's a violation of the bylaws because he didn't report to the club even though he had more than two months. That's why he was released."
Park Yoo-yeon was such a promising player that his team thought he would become the next starting catcher. After graduating from Dongsan High School, Park joined Doosan as the 60th pick in the sixth round of the second rookie draft in 2017, drawing high expectations as an offensive catcher. Although Park joined the first team slower than expected due to a chronic knee injury, he is still in his mid-20s and has high expectations at a young age. Park continued to play as the main catcher in the second team, while building his experience step by step. Park's overall performance in the first team is 28 games with a batting average of 0.250 (9 hits in 36 times at bat), an on-base percentage of 0.289, a slugging percentage of 0.306, and three RBIs.
Doosan recruited Yang Eui-ji (36) for 15.2 billion won (4+2 years), the highest amount in FA history, ahead of this season, under the judgment that it lacked the sense of main catcher. Yang Eui-ji made outstanding performances this year, sweeping the Golden Glove and Defensive Award in the catcher category and ranking first in the team with a batting average of 0.305. Although the modifier "the best homebody in the league" is still a good match, Doosan continues to care about Yang Eui-ji's age, who is in his late 30s. Now he thinks that the next main catcher should come out to arrange Yang Eui-ji's physical strength, and Doosan manager Lee Seung-yeop also declared that fierce competition for backup catchers will take place starting next spring.
Park Yoo-yeon was a player who would occupy a significant portion of the backup catcher competition. It was expected that he would compete with Jang Seung-hyun and Ahn Seung-han, who were backup catchers for the first team, and Kim Ki-yeon, a former LG Twins catcher who was selected in the first round in the second draft. Among them, Park Yeon-yeon and Kim Ki-yeon were young catchers in their mid-20s who will prepare for the next generation of Yang Eui-ji. The next season was considered an important time for Park to grow further in the first team, but unexpected drunk driving ruined the efforts so far.
As Park Yoo-yeon was released from Doosan, it became difficult to get a chance to play for other teams. Apart from Doosan's own disciplinary action, KBO disciplinary action remains, which will be applied from the moment Park Yoo-yeon signed a contract with another club. It is unclear whether there will be a club that will wait for Park Yoo-yeon to finish the disciplinary action. Once the frame of drunk driving is put on, it has a strong negative image, making it difficult for teams that want to strengthen their power to reach out easily.
According to the KBO's rules on punishment for drunk driving, the first detection of a driver's license suspension is a suspension of 70 games, and the first detection of a driver's license revocation is a one-year disqualification. A driver's license twice is disqualified for five years, and a driver's license is permanently disqualified for three or more times. As Park has been suspended from his driver's license, he is certain to be suspended from 70 games. Park may be given more disciplinary action than that, as he can hold the team responsible for concealing the details. For now, the KBO must wait for the results of the punishment committee.
Doosan hoped that Park Yoo-yeon would fulfill his dream as a catcher by actively supporting him when he was on the operating table due to a knee injury at the end of this season and receiving rehabilitation treatment. A key Doosan official said, "It is true that Park Yoo-yeon is not in a situation where he can train strongly due to a knee problem, but he still has the will to become a catcher." However, during this period, he was caught drunk driving and even missed the timing to confess the truth, causing great disappointment to the club.
A Doosan official said, "We evaluated Park Yoo-yeon as a talented player, but drunk driving is a big mistake in itself," but he could not hide his bitter feelings. As the club was a promising player who had been waiting for his talent, he felt more disappointed about the cover-up of drunk driving.
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