Bae reached a deal with the Atlanta Braves in September, but two months later, Major League Baseball voided the contract, as part of its sanctions on the Braves for a series of other international signing violations.

He became a free agent, but because he'd signed his first professional contract outside Korea, he's been ruled ineligible to play in the Korea Baseball Organization, the top domestic circuit, for two years.

Had Bae not skipped the annual KBO draft, he would have been a top-five pick.

After receiving his award Monday, Bae said he wasn't as upset about the news of the Braves' penalties as others feared he might be.

"I think time will heal everything," he said. "Right now, I don't know whether I'll move to the United States or stay in Korea to play baseball. I'll leave all the possibilities open. No matter where I end up, I'll prepare myself to play the best baseball that I can play."

Bae said how he spends the next two years without affiliated baseball will be critical to his career. He is going through conditioning workouts in the mornings and technical drills in the afternoons at his school.

Bae said he's taking it all in stride because, "If you're going to experience bad things, it's better off to do it early in your career than later. I am trying to stay as positive as I can."

The speedy shortstop said he doesn't have any regrets over choosing the US in favor of the KBO. He spent the month of September in the Florida Instructional League, open to young prospects, and said he wouldn't trade that experience with anything else.

"I learned more during the one month there than I had my entire playing career," he said. "The US is the best baseball country in the world, and I wanted to learn baseball in that country." (Yonhap)