Attention is focused on whether the Lotte Giants, who have worked hard to gather good prospects for three years, will produce new faces in the new year.
Lotte started to change the direction of the team from 2020. Rookies have more opportunities to play for the Futures (2nd team) than players with slow or stagnant growth, and many promising players who have not been able to blossom their potential in other teams also wear Lotte uniforms. In the rookie draft, the keynote of ‘selecting the best players regardless of position’ was also revealed.
In the process of transforming into a young team, there were quite a few voices of criticism. Bae Young-soo, pitching coach at Lotte, said, “After I came as a coach, there were so many good prospects. I think it was because there was a plan that I gathered a lot of promising players even after being criticized for several years.” If these players develop well and go as planned, it will be of great help to the team’s power.”
In Lotte, new faces who have developed into key players for the past three years have been steadily appearing. Choi Jun-yong, who joined as the first nomination in 2020 and competed for the Rookie of the Year with 20 holds the following year, as well as Kim Do-gyu and Hwang Seong-bin, are the main players. Kim Do-gyu, who made his debut in the first team in 2021 after completing his military service, has established himself as a key bullpen for two years, and Hwang Seong-bin, who joined the army immediately after joining in 2020 and reached the first team stage last year, showed great potential as Lotte’s lead-off in the future. 토토
This year is the time when the results of the team’s keynote change will be more revealed. Players who are about to be discharged are also interested. Catcher Son Seong-bin, a rookie in 2021, will be discharged in June. Kim Dong-hyuk, an outfield prospect who enlisted right after joining in 2021, will be discharged in April. Na Seung-yeop, who was rated as the best hitter in high school, will be discharged in November to add strength to next year’s season.
Pitcher Lee Min-seok, who gained first-team experience as a rookie last year, and Yoon Dong-hee, who showed the possibility of transitioning from an infielder to an outfielder, can also show their potential. Among the rookies this year, infielders Kim Min-seok and Jeong Dae-sun and pitcher Lee Jin-ha, who played as youth representatives in the U-18 Baseball World Cup, will be able to experience the first team stage. This winter, players who have been quenched in the Australian Professional League (ABL) are also highly anticipated. In addition to this year’s rookie Kim Min-seok, pitchers Kim Jin-wook and Seo Jun-won, and infielder Kim Seo-jin also added experience during the offseason. An official from Lotte said, “The number of players who will develop the player base will increase one by one.”