Generational change is something the Lotte Giants have always struggled with. The pitching staff gradually changed generations as Park Se-woong, Koo Seung-min, and Kim Won-joong grew up from their mid-to-late 20s, and they are now the centerpiece. However, the generation change of Yasujin was slow.
They knew they had to prepare for the future, but there were many things they couldn’t give up for immediate results. From the late 2000s to the early 2010s, Lotte revitalized the Yasujin with younger players, led by Lee Dae-ho, who became the centerpiece of the batting lineup known as Nofear. Son As-seop, Kang Min-ho, Hwang Jae-gyun, and Jeon Jun-woo were the center of the batting lineup. Son As-seob, Kang Min-ho, and Jeon Jun-woo were drafted by Lotte in the rookie draft, while Hwang Jae-gyun was acquired in a trade with Heroes (now Kiwoom). They became the core of Lotte’s batting lineup and were in charge of the batting lineup until the mid-to-late 2010s.
Hwang Jae-gyun left for KT, Kang Min-ho for Samsung, and Son As-seob for NC. Only Jeon Jun-woo remains as a member of the original club. 안전놀이터 추천 Lotte has had a tumultuous departure of players who have been the core of their batting lineup for many years. If there were good replacements for these players, the club would not have arbitrarily kept the core players, but this was not the case. There were no replacements, and there was no room for development.
After letting them go without a plan, Lotte had to go through a long period of stagnation.
Kang Min-ho’s wife’s departure led to a weakening of the batting lineup, including a gap in the catching staff, which they tried to fill with Hwang Jae-gyun’s replacement, then-number one pick Han Dong-hee, but she didn’t settle in quickly enough. After Son’s departure, the team calculated that it could fill the gap by using existing young outfielders in situational roles, but that also failed.
The development stalled, and it was reaffirmed that prospects are only prospects. The team’s goal was to become a more dynamic team. The destination was right, the direction was right, but the way to get there was not. The passive batting and small-ball team colors were the shackles that controlled the development of the prospects. Of course, the inexperience of the batting prospects was a factor, but the team’s strategy and bench tendencies dominated over the process of self-realization as they gained experience. From 2020 to 2023, the highest rate of walks in four years, 18%, was not unrelated to the direction of these clubs (league average 17.3%).
They still relied heavily on established veterans like Jeon Jun-woo and Jeong Hoon Jung-hoon, as well as Han Dong-hee, who was the star from 2020 to 2022, and foreign hitters. After Lee Dae-ho retired after the 2022 season, younger players like Yoon Dong-hui and Kim Min-seok gained near-full-time experience and showed promise. However, they were below average based on league averages. Hwang Sung-bin and Ko Seung-min, who showed promise in 2022, regressed due to injuries, position switches, and the team’s direction.
This year, Lotte struggled early on after hiring manager Kim Tae-hyung.
The batting lineup went into a collective slump early in the season. Yoon Dong-hee, Go Seung-min, and Na Seung-yeop, who were expected to be the youngsters, struggled, and Kim Min-seok and Han Dong-hee were sidelined with injuries. Naturally, the team fell to the bottom of the standings. They hung on with the help of trade acquisition Son Ho-young, veteran Jeon Jun-woo, and foreign hitter Victor Reyes. Jeon Joon-woo, a key prospect a decade ago, was still the core of the batting order, while Yoon Dong-hee slowly found his bat in the first team. Go Seung-min and Na Seung-yup were sent down to the second team. Kim Tae-hyung gave them pointers and gave them time to regroup in the second team. When Kim Min-seok failed to live up to expectations upon his return from injury, Hwang Sung-bin was brought in to replace him.
While the month of May is a small sample size, Lotte is now clearly a dynamic and aggressive team. With Jeon Jun-woo and Jeong Hoon sidelined, Hwang Seong-bin (27), Ko Seung-min (24), Yoon Dong-hee (21), and Na Seung-yup (22), Lotte’s envisioned core of core resources have stepped up and energized the team, leading them to a 12-7-1 record in May with a .632 winning percentage.
Hwang Sung-bin was sidelined with a hamstring injury but is batting 7-for-14 (37 RBIs) with one home run, two doubles, 13 runs scored, five stolen bases and a .979 OPS in 10 games, while Yoon Dong-hee has come alive with consistent playing time. In 20 games in May, he is batting .914 with one home run, seven RBIs, 19 runs scored, and an OPS of .914, while Go Seung-min is bouncing back after a brief slump and is batting .329 with one home run, 13 RBIs, 11 runs scored, and an OPS of .852 in 26 games in 79 at-bats. Na Seung-yup is batting .423 (23-for-67) with one home run, nine RBIs, 11 runs scored, and a .955 OPS.
Encouragingly, all of them have fulfilled their military service obligations.
Hwang Sung-bin Go Seung-min is still on active duty, Na Seung-yeop completed his service in the commercial sector, and Yoon Dong-hee received a special exemption for his gold medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year. 카지노사이트 순위 If they continue to grow at this rate, we could be looking at a golden generation of Beasts, following in the footsteps of Son Asub, Kang Min-ho, Hwang Jae-kyun and Jeon Jun-woo. There is no position overlap.
Add to that the development of Han Dong-hee, who will be returning from military service, outfielder Kim Min-seok, who is currently struggling a bit, and catcher Son Sung-bin, and Lotte could be in for another golden era in the next decade.