There are no players to take Lotte's bitter current status as '0 people' selected by other teams

Lotte Giants coach Kim Tae-hyung is taking a commemorative photo with a bouquet of flowers at the inauguration ceremony held at Lotte Hotel Busan in Busanjin-gu, Busan on the afternoon of the 24th. From left, Koo Seung-min, Ahn Chi-hong, director Kim Tae-hyung, Jeon Jun-woo, and Kim Won-joong.

The Lotte Giants were the only team without a power leak in the 2023 KBO 2nd draft. It can be considered a success as no players left and a powerful infielder was brought in immediately when needed, but there were also no attractive Lotte players that other clubs would want to recruit.

The 10 clubs strengthened their power by recruiting 1 to 3 players in the second draft held on the 22nd.

In this second draft, in line with the generational change and salary cap of each club, a large number of major players such as Choi Joo-hwan, Kim Kang-min, Woo Gyu-min, Lee Hyeong-beom, Park Dae-on, Kim Ki-yeon, Jeon Byeong-woo, and Yang Hyeon were transferred. Most clubs expressed satisfaction that they had recruited the resources they were looking for in positions that needed reinforcement.

Considering the player outflow, each club had mixed feelings. LG Twins, SSG Landers, and NC Dinos lost up to four players, and KIA Tigers also lost three players to other clubs. KT Wiz, Samsung Lions, and Hanwha Eagles also had to give up one player, but Lotte was the only one without a player.

As Lotte has maintained its existing strength, it can be said that it has well-organized its list of 35 protected players. There was no damage by combining the team's core players and potential players well.

It was also positive for Lotte that in this 2nd draft, those in their 1st to 3rd years as a professional and this year's free agents are automatically excluded from nomination. Kim Jin-wook, Na Seung-yeop, Son Seong-bin, and Kim Min-seok were in their first to third years of joining the team, and Jeon Jun-woo was also an FA-approved player.

Seonjin Oh

If you approach it from a different perspective, it is not always welcome. This also means that Lotte's player base is not thick, so there were no Lotte players that other clubs could take.

Lotte's thin player base was a chronic problem, and there was a large difference in skills between starting and non-starting players. Even though it ranked high at the beginning of the season last year and this year, it was unable to overcome difficulties such as injuries and low stamina, so it ended up only finishing at 'Bomde' (Lotte, which is only good in spring).

One club official said, “We looked at each club’s list of protected players, but there were too few players that could be selected from Lotte. “He considered recruiting a specific position, and he thought that players from other clubs were better in this position than Lotte,” he said.

Still, Lotte praised itself for having succeeded in reinforcing infielders through the second draft. With free agent infielder Ahn Chi-hong leaving for the Hanwha Eagles, they considered recruiting infielders who could be used immediately in the first team, and accordingly designated Oh Seon-jin and Choi Hang.

Lotte general manager Park Jun-hyuk said, “We tried to fill Ahn Chi-hong’s void as much as possible. If Choi Joo-hwan remained in our selection order in the first round, we were going to call him, but Kiwoom Heroes took him. “We appointed Oh Seon-jin as the next best option,” he said. “Choi Hang has solid offensive ability and can lead to competition for third base. “The infield depth has been strengthened with the addition of these two players,” he said. casinosite.zone