Presidents of the nine clubs in South Korea’s top baseball league failed Tuesday to narrow their differences on a lottery system for annual rookie drafts, putting off their discussion until a future meeting.

The club executives from the Korea Baseball Organization held their first board meeting this year, with the potential change to the draft setting as the key item on the agenda.

Last month, the KBO clubs’ general managers proposed that the league draft should adopt a lottery system. In that scheme, non-playoff teams from the previous season would enter a lottery for the right to the first overall selection. The other four teams that advanced to the postseason would draft in the reverse order of their record.

Currently, the KBO uses a reverse-record order, in which the team with the worst record in the previous year automatically earns the first overall pick while the league champion picks last in the first round. Eight teams currently compete in the KBO, with four teams playing in the postseason. A ninth club, NC Dinos, will join the KBO in 2013.

On Tuesday, some presidents were behind the lottery, but others called for the revival of the territorial draft, which had been used until 2008.

Under the territorial setting, teams could acquire high school or college players from their home city or satellite cities in the same province. The idea was to build strong local connections for teams and secure support of hometown fans. 

(Yonhap News)