5 Billion FA Behind Released Transfer Players, Shocked First Team Camp Eliminated...How will he recover his mental state
Feb 10, 2025
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Lotte Giants manager Kim Tae-hyung could not hide his frustration at shortstop Roh Jin-hyuk's 36-year-old slump last season. Noh Jin-hyuk is a player recruited by Lotte by investing 5 billion won in the FA market for four years ahead of the 2023 season. Lotte, aiming to strengthen its center line, expected Noh Jin-hyuk, who has stable defense and one-shot long shot, to play as the main shortstop.
However, Roh Jin-hyuk has not established his position in the team at all after half of the contract period. In 2023, he entered 390 at-bats in 113 games, but there was a side injury and only a batting average of 0.257, four homers and 51 RBIs.
The bad trend of 2023 continued until last year. Coach Kim chose Noh Jin-hyuk as the main shortstop and entered the season, but he was completely flunked with a batting average of 0.219 (30 hits in 137 times at bat), two home runs and 13 RBIs in 73 games.
Manager Kim watched Noh Jin-hyuk, who was struggling with a batting average of around 10% at the beginning of last season, and said, `There are cases where I catch it, but it doesn't help that much. There is also a way for young players to take a lot of practice and not think about anything at all. Experienced players are apparently in their own minds. You can practice a little more and there are many ways, but that's not the answer. In this case, there is no right answer to what to do," he said, stressing that he has no choice but to find an answer on his own.
While Roh Jin-hyuk wandered around without finding an answer, the main shortstop was Park Seung-wook (33). Park Seung-wook was on the verge of retirement when he was notified of his release by kt Wiz after the 2021 season, but Lotte extended his career by signing a contract with a minimum salary of 30 million won. It was right to see it as a choice to strengthen depth rather than as an intention to take over the main role.
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Last year, the second round of competition between Noh Jin-hyuk and Park Seung-wook for shortstop was also Park Seung-wook's victory. Park overwhelmed Noh in batting, and had his best season of his career with a batting average of 0.262 (106 hits in 405 at-bats), seven homers and 53 RBIs in 139 games. He hit career highs in various offensive indicators, including home runs and RBIs, in his first 100 hits in his career.
Coach Kim selected Park Seung-wook as the main shortstop from the spring camp this year. Park Seung-wook has received a much better report card over the past two years, and considering the future of the team in his early 30s, it was inevitable to lean toward Park Seung-wook.
Coach Kim even used shock therapy to exclude Noh Jin-hyuk from the first-team spring camp list. In the case of veterans, head coach Kim sends them to the second-tier spring camp to take time and slowly build their bodies, which may feel a little different to Roh Jin-hyuk, who is in desperate need of a rebound this year. Attention is focusing on whether Roh Jin-hyuk, who is on the edge of the cliff, will be able to find a breakthrough on his own this year and prove his investment value of 5 billion won.
Players who are in desperate need of a rebound, including Noh Jin-hyuk, infielder Kim Min-sung, pitcher Park Si-young, Park Jin-hyung and Shim Jae-min, were listed in the Lotte Futures spring camp. Son Sung-bin, a prospect for catcher who is preparing to return to injury, will also be with him. The 25 players, including them, will hold Futures Spring Camp in Tainan, Taiwan from the 11th to the 7th of next month.
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This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
