Son Ho-young (30), who joined as a trade early last season, performed better than expected and took over the Lotte Giants' main third baseman, but concerns about his injury still remain. Lotte's immediate task is who will fill the position when Son Ho-young, who needs careful injury management, is absent.메이저놀이터
Son Ho-young, who joined Lotte in a trade in March last year, has never met his regular at-bats when he was with the LG Twins. He showed off his talent in batting, hitting a batting average of .300 in 23 games in the 2020 season, but his injury has hampered him every time. It was an unverified resource as he played in 94 games for four seasons since his debut.
Soon after, however, Son Ho-young changed the question mark against him into an exclamation mark. From the game against LG on April 17 to the game against the Kiwoom Heroes on June 21, he had hits in 30 consecutive games, displaying robust hitting performance. In addition to his bold hitting, he posted a batting average of 0.317 with 18 homers and 78 RBIs in 102 games in the 2024 season with an OPS of 0.892. He hit the most home runs in his team even though he failed to meet the required number of at-bats.
Son has completely settled down as Lotte's main third baseman, but there are still risks. This is an injury problem that has hindered Son throughout his career. He was listed as injured twice in May and June last season. The injury was more painful because he suffered at a time when he was setting a record for consecutive hits with good batting performance.
Careful injury management is essential in order to fully utilize Son's offensive capabilities. It is much more efficient to provide adequate rest and aim to play as many games as possible, rather than to forcefully play full-time.
If so, the question is who will fill the gap when Son Ho-young is out for rest. Lotte released infield utilities Lee Hak-joo and Oh Sun-jin last year. Noh Jin-hyuk, Kim Min-sung and Choi Hang are the only players in the team who can trust and trust the third base.
The most likely player is Roh Jin-hyuk, the "5 billion FA." It is heartbreaking for Lotte, which has to have a candidate for the player it recruited through a major FA contract, but finding even the least amount of use is an urgent priority. Roh, who left a disappointing performance with a batting average of 0.257 with four homers and 51 RBIs in 113 games in the 2023 season, was completely behind in the competition to become a starting player last year, recording a batting average of 0.219 with two homers and 13 RBIs in 73 games.
Kim Min-sung is not as good as Noh Jin-hyuk, but rather a member of the team that was hired at the risk of major losses. Kim signed a two-plus-one-year contract with his original team LG in the Stove League and joined Lotte as a "friendly team" through sign-and-trade. Lotte gave up Kim Min-soo, an infield prospect, in return for Kim's benefit. Lotte expected Kim to play a strong role as an infield utility veteran, but failed to make an appearance in the first division since June and only played 35 games.
Lotte, which successfully filled the gap in its main third baseman position with a "God-like move" to sign Son Ho-young's trade, faced another challenge as a result. It remains to be seen whether veterans Roh Jin-hyuk and Kim Min-sung will be able to use this situation as an opportunity to prove their existence value.