Kim Min-seok Trade, a sudden decision? No..."I got the card in enough time"
Kim Min-seok Trade, a sudden decision? No..."I got the card in enough time"
Blog Article
Lotte Giants' surprise big deal in the stove league was not suddenly pursued. By using key prospects in the team as trading cards, the team has successfully strengthened its power.
Lotte signed a 3-2 trade with the Doosan Bears on Tuesday. It sent outfielders Kim Min-seok and Choo Jae-hyun and pitcher Choi Woo-in to Doosan, and brought in pitcher Jung Chul-won and infielder Jeon Min-jae.
The key to the trade is the exchange of Chung and Kim. Both players did not perform well in the 2024 season, but Chung has been a key bullpen player for Doosan for the past two years. Kim, who will mark his third year since debut, is a promising professional baseball player that any baseball team would covet.
Lotte said it had enough time to match the trade card with Doosan. Reinforcing the bullpen during the stove league was one of the major tasks and discussed the trade of Jung Cheol-won with Doosan.
"After the end of this season, we pushed for a bullpen pitcher trade and checked all the pitchers in each team. Through this process, we also matched the trade card with Doosan," Lotte General Manager Park Joon-hyuk said. "We had enough time to discuss the trade with Doosan."
"It's the same with any trade. It's too bad to send a player who used to be with us to another team," he said. "I wish Kim Min-seok, Choo Jae-hyun and Choi Woo-in all the best in their new team."
Kim Min-seok swung the bat with a batting average of 0.565 (35 hits in 62 times at bat), one homer, 10 RBIs, 18 steals, and an OPS of 1.566 in 18 games at the 2022 high school competition when he was a junior at Whimoon High School. He had only one homer, but was praised for his high quality of batting that he sends to the outfield, including seven doubles and five triples.
Lotte used the third overall pick in the first round for Kim Min-seok in the 2023 Rookie Draft. Sung Min-gyu, former general manager of Lotte, briefly explained the background of the pick, saying, "We highly value the player's outstanding batting ability."
After joining the pro league, Kim Min-seok showed fast adaptability despite changes in his position from infielder to outfielder. He took the position as the starting center fielder of Lotte in the 2023 season and received a report card that showed compliance with the score of 0.255 with three home runs, 39 RBIs and 16 steals in 129 games.
However, Kim suffered a severe jinx in his second year with a batting average of 0.211 (16 hits in 76 times at bat) and six RBIs and three steals in 41 games in the 2024 season. He also failed to stand out in the Futures League with a batting average of 0.277 (31 hits in 112 times at bat) and 11 RBIs and four steals in 35 games.
Despite sluggish performance in the 2024 season, Kim remains a key Lotte player. However, Lotte desperately needed bullpen resources that it could throw as a must-win group and infield resources that could play defense against shortstop in the process of preparing for the 2025 season. In the process, Kim changed his uniform.
Lotte ranked ninth with an ERA of 5.36 in its bullpen this year. In many games, pitchers in the winning team collapsed and lost. Blon's save amounted to 27 innings, the most ever.
Lotte successfully secured all of its internal resources including closing pitcher Kim Won-joong and setup man Koo Seung-min. However, as Choi's surgery left him with insufficient resources to win, it needed a proven bullpen pitcher.
Jeon Min-jae is also expected to greatly contribute to Lotte's performance. Although Park Seung-wook performed better than expected in 139 games with a batting average of 0.262 (106 hits in 405 times at bat) and seven homers, 53 RBIs and an OPS of 0.716 as the team's main shortstop this year, the team does not have enough backup resources. 온라인바카라
Jeon, born in 1999, is young and has resolved military issues early on. Jeon has shown he is a competitive player in the top team with a batting average of 0.246 (61 hits in 248 times at bat) and two homers, 32 RBIs and seven steals in 100 games for Doosan this year.