Director Kim Tae-hyung's desperate plan...Multi-position hurts the sense of hitting. Ko Seungmin's worries.

Aug 21, 2025

Director Kim Tae-hyung's desperate plan...Multi-position hurts the sense of hitting. Ko Seungmin's worries.
Lotte and KT held at Sajik Stadium in Busan on the 28th. Lotte's Ko Seung-min hitting. Busan = Song Jeong-heon Reporter's songs@sportschosun.com/2025.06.28/



Director Kim Tae-hyung's desperate plan...Multi-position hurts the sense of hitting. Ko Seungmin's worries.
The game between the Hanwha Eagles and the Lotte Giants at Hanwha Life Ballpark in Daejeon on the 13th. Lotte's Ko Seung-min steps down after striking out in the first inning. Daejeon = Song Jeong-heon Reporter's songs@sportschosun.com/2025.08.13/
Director Kim Tae-hyung's desperate plan...Multi-position hurts the sense of hitting. Ko Seungmin's worries.
The game between the Lotte Giants and the LG Twins at Sajik Stadium in Busan on the 1st. Lotte's Ko Seung-min is cheering after hitting a timely hit with two outs and runners on the first and second bases in the bottom of the third inning. Busan = Reporter Park Jae-man pjm@sportschosun.com /2025.07.01/
If there is a player who plays multiple positions when needed, it is very appreciated from the team's point of view. Even the defense in that position does more than just fine.

The first problem is that the hitting sense is shaken, and the second problem is that other batters are not able to support it.

This is the story of Lotte Giants' Ko Seung-min (25). His main position is second baseman, but he played a lot of time as a first baseman this year. He also occasionally plays in left and right field.




It is Lotte manager Kim Tae-hyung's desperate measure. At the beginning of the season, he only played second base. Na Seung-yeop, Ko Seung-min, Jeon Min-jae (Park Seung-wook), and Son Ho-young were initially prepared in the infield structure.

Na Seung-yeop, who showed his side as a home run hitter at the beginning of the season, has been in a slump since May. While Na Seung-yeop was traveling to and from the second division, new infielders such as Han Tae-yang and Park Chan-hyung came to mind.

At the beginning of the season, there were many injuries, so there was no big problem. Newcomers could be put in shortstop or third base.




However, the injured players returned, and Na Seung-yeop still failed to find his condition, so he had a problem. Jung-hoon and Kim Min-sung are among the players who can cover the first base, but they are disappointed to see the first base. It is a pity that young players who have never seen first base are trained on first base.

On the other hand, Ko Seung-min is a player who started as a second baseman, went out to the outfield, and then returned to second base with manager Kim Tae-hyung's appointment.

Director Kim Tae-hyung's desperate plan...Multi-position hurts the sense of hitting. Ko Seungmin's worries.
The game between the Hanwha Eagles and the Lotte Giants at Hanwha Life Ball Park in Daejeon on the 24th. Lotte's Ko Seung-min is hitting. Daejeon = Reporter Park Jae-man pjm@sportschosun.com /2025.05.24/
Some say that the defense at first base is better than Na Seung-yeop. He has compliance speed and strong shoulders, so the corner outfield is also more than basic.




Director Kim Tae-hyung said, `Seungmin wants to keep it at second base if possible"I agonized over and over again. However, one player who plays well is disappointed, and he believed in Ko Seung-min's experience, who has a lot of experience in moving positions. Above all, Ko Seung-min has been steadily taking good batting this season.

In the end, from June, Ko Seung-min seems to have virtually moved to first base. It was only 262 percent for the month of June, avoiding a slump.

In July, after going through the adaptation process, he raised his batting average again to 333. However, this time, with Na Seung-yeop returning, it is a situation where he plays the outfield 'part-time' again. He started in right field once at the end of July, left field against Samsung on the 15th and right field again against LG on the 20th.

In the process, the sense of hitting is shaking again. Ko Seung-min is sluggish with a batting average of 197 in August. Jeon Jun-woo is out due to injury, and Yoon Dong-hee and Reyes are also sluggish, but even Ko Seung-min, who has been steady, has completely hit the bottom, so there is no player to hit the lineup. Ko Seung-min is the only player who shows occasional sharp hits despite his poor performance.

As a result, Lotte transformed itself into the league's worst batting team in August with a team batting average of 260 and a team OPS (on-base plus slugging) of 0.566. Even though I cut it down like that, I still have a lot to build up to be second in the team batting average. Lotte's steady third place this year, when both foreign pitchers were replaced and Park Se-woong had his worst season in his life, was thanks to its powerful lineup and strong backdoor.

Director Kim Tae-hyung's desperate plan...Multi-position hurts the sense of hitting. Ko Seungmin's worries.
The game between SSG and Lotte at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on the 8th, and Ko Seung-min, with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning, is regretful as he stepped down with a fly to the left field. Busan = Reporter's wook@sportschosun.com/2025.08.08/
Director Kim Tae-hyung said, `Han Tae-yang is doing as much as he does, but it is right that Na Seung-yeop should have done well. Then it would not have been easy for Han Tae-yang to come up to the first team." In the end, as Han Tae-yang came in instead of Na Seung-yeop, Ko Seung-min seems to have gone to first base, which means it is difficult to say that the lineup has become stronger.

Coach Kim Tae-hyung sighed repeatedly, saying, "We have to break the losing streak from three to four consecutive losses, but it's going too long." Already, we are facing a nightmare of 10 consecutive losses for the first time in 22 years since 2003. Is there a breakthrough for Lotte.





This article was translated by Naver AI translator.