Can Lotte Kim Jin-wook (21) and Seo Jun-won (23), who cannot continue to bloom as promising players, secure a spot in the starting lineup in the 2023 season?
There are elements of hope. Kim Jin-wook and Seo Jun-won are spending the off-season in Australia. He is preparing for the next season by joining Geelong Korea and playing real matches.
As a starter, he plays a lot of innings and is also building up his appearance as an innings eater, which is the top priority for a starting pitcher. Kim Jin-wook started as a starter on December 30 against the Sydney Bluesox in the Australian Professional Baseball League and collapsed with 8 runs in 2 innings. did a good job.
Seo Jun-won, who boarded the plane to Australia together, is also working hard. Instead of not having a fixed position for him, he is increasing his utilization value while digesting both the starting and bullpen positions. On the 29th of last month, he scored 2 runs in 6 innings as a starter against the Sydney Blue Sox, becoming the winning pitcher. Including this game, he appeared in 7 games in Australia.
In Lotte’s native starting lineup looking at the 2023 season, the clearest candidate is only Park Se-woong. Park Se-woong signed the club’s first multi-year contract during his off-season, once again confirming the amount of expectations his team is sending towards him.
The owners of the remaining two local selection positions have not yet been clearly determined. At least, Lee In-bok is ahead. Lee In-bok, who stood out as a starter from the second half of the 2021 season, played full-time as a starter for the first time last season, recording an average ERA of 4.19 with 9 wins, 9 losses and 1 hold in 26 games. The 9 wins is the third most within the Lotte team after Charlie Barnes (12 wins and 12 losses) and Park Se-woong (10 wins and 11 lo sses). However, considering that this is the first season Lee In-bok played full-time, he cannot be relieved. 안전놀이터
In that position, Kim Jin-wook and Seo Jun-won can challenge themselves. After graduating from Gangneung High School, Kim Jin-wook, who wore a Lotte uniform with the 1st place in the 2nd round of the 2021 rookie draft, gathered expectations as a strong rookie king candidate from the time he joined. However, his record for the first year in the first team was only 6.31 average ERA in 39 games, 4 wins, 6 losses, and 8 holds in the 2021 season, and in the 2022 season, he recorded an average ERA of 6.36 in 14 games, 2 wins, 5 losses, and realized the wall of a professional.
Seo Jun-won is also one of the pitchers who have not been able to break the label of ‘prospect’. Seo Jun-won, who joined Lotte with the first nomination in 2019, showed potential by joining the starting rotation from the second half of the season in his first year of debut. In the future, he has been expected to be a starting member who will carry the future of Lotte Mound, but he is not living up to expectations. At least in the 2022 season, he showed hope for his growth with an average ERA of 4.80 with 3 wins, 3 losses and 2 holds in 33 games.
The two pitchers now have nowhere to back down. You can’t see only possibilities forever. Kim Jin-wook is in his 3rd year of professional debut, and Seo Jun-won is in his 5th season.
As he has decided to make a special effort in Australia, it is likely that he will challenge the starting lineup of Lotte for the new season. We need to gain an edge in the selection competition that will take place in spring camp. The addition of catcher Yoo Kang-nam, who can further improve pitchers’ skills, is expected to work as a good thing.