Lotte didn’t mess around in the second round of the draft
Lotte didn’t mess around in the second round of the draft on April 22. It had a clear purpose: to add infield depth. First, Ahn Chi-hong, who was an internal free agent just before the second round, signed a 4+2-year deal worth up to 7.2 billion won with Hanwha. They retained Jeon Jun-woo for four years and 4.7 billion won, but lost their starting second baseman.
It’s virtually impossible to find a second baseman of Ahn’s caliber right now. In addition to internal alternatives, the team needed to bolster its competitiveness with external transfusions. The team needed to replenish its competitive resources in the second round of the draft. Choi Joo-hwan, who was once the top pick in the second round, was selected by Kiwoom with the first overall pick in the first round. Lotte passed on the first round. In the second round, 먹튀검증 they selected Oh Sun-jin (34), a Hanwha infield utility player. In the third round, Lotte completed the second round of the draft by selecting Choi Hang (29), a right-handed batting infield utility from SSG.
Park Joon-hyuk praised the pick for strengthening the overall depth of the infield.
He said, “Oh Sun-jin aims to strengthen the infield depth. His defense is stable and he can play a variety of positions. As for Choi, we need to see more about his defense, but he has a solid offense. Third base corner infield depth. With Choi coming in, there will be competition at third base, but we’re looking to increase our overall infield depth.”
Replacing Ahn Chi-hong with Choi Joo-hwan was a no-brainer. Lotte, who had the fourth overall pick, had some hope, as the order of this year’s results was reversed. However, they didn’t stand a chance as Kiwoom didn’t hesitate to select Choi Joo-hwan. The team focused on making calculated moves within the set order to create the optimal result.
“We tried to fill Ahn Chi-hong’s gap as much as possible,” said Park Jun-hyuk. “We also had thoughts about Choi Joo-hwan,” he said, “If Choi Joo-hwan is out of the first round, we came with a clear strategy to pass the first round and go to Oh Sun-jin. In the end, the defense of the infield is the key. We made the pick to increase our infield depth.”
“We could have taken Oh in the first round, but we didn’t want to rush and took him in the second round
In the later rounds, it was determined that no team was in urgent need of an infielder, and no team actually drafted an infielder. Lotte was the only one. They ended up paying the second round transfer fee of 300 million won instead of the first round transfer fee of 400 million won. The transfer fee was minimized to strengthen the infield.
Both Oh Seon-jin and Choi Hang are inexperienced players in the first team. Oh was drafted in the fourth round of the second round of the 2008 rookie draft. He donned a Samsung uniform in a one-for-one trade with Lee Sung-gon in 2021 and became a Class C free agent at the end of last season, returning to Chinjeong Hanwha for a total of 400 million won for 1+1 years. 온라인카지노사이트 He is a utility player who can play any position in the infield, and an infielder with good operational skills, playing a role like Altoran.
In 90 games this year, he batted 2-for-38 (165 at-bats) with 14 RBIs, 17 runs scored, and a .609 OPS. In 1109 career games, Choi is 2-for-4 (2612-for-629) with 18 home runs, 229 RBI, 49 doubles, and 275 runs scored.
Choi Hang is the younger brother of SSG’s franchise star Choi Jung.
He was drafted in the 8th round of the 2012 rookie draft. He is a resource player who can be found at second and third base and has a talent for hitting. However, he hasn”t reached his full potential. Injuries to his ankle, back, and shoulder prevented him from playing a full season.
In 304 career games, he batted .273 (704-for-192) with 11 home runs, 94 RBI, and 93 runs scored. This year, he’s batting just 2-for-8 with one home run and an .811 OPS in 21 games.
They won’t be able to do the one-man job that Ahn did right away. However, Oh Seon-jin and Choi Hang, who both have first-team experience, will fill in at second base with the competitive synergy of existing resources. Inside, Park Seung-wook, who played well as a utility player last year, Ko Seung-min, who is in the process of transitioning back to second base from the outfield but was a big second baseman when he joined the team, right-handed infield prospect Kim Min-soo and rookie Jung Dae-sun will compete for Muju Gongsan’s second base spot.
At third base, the team is also looking to add tension to the existing resources of Han Dong-hee, Kim Min-soo, and Na Seung-yup. In addition, the entire infield has entered a competitive system as Noh Jin-hyuk, who plays shortstop, is unable to play full-time in the regular season due to a back problem.
Meanwhile, Oh Sun-jin and Choi Hang will attend a ceremony on the 25th to meet with the coaching staff and players, including head coach Kim Tae-hyung.