Lotte, which was frustrated in last place in August, finally pulled out a knife to change the coaching staff...Coach Kim Sang-jin, Kim Hyun-wook, and Lee Byung-kyu registered as the first team
Aug 28, 2025
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There is no longer a situation where there is a 'new blood' to be transfused in the second team. In the end, head coach Kim Tae-hyung drew a knife. It made a massive change to the first-team coaching staff.
Lotte Giants registered pitching coach Kim Sang-jin, pitching coach Kim Hyun-wook and hitting coach Lee Byung-kyu in the first team on the 28th.
Coach Kim Sang-jin and coach Lee Byung-kyu were the second-tier pitchers and hitting coaches, while coach Kim Hyun-wook was the third-tier pitchers coach.
In professional baseball, changing the coaching staff is entirely the authority of the first team manager. The club only respects the judgment of the field.
Lotte had a team batting average (244), last place in the team OPS (0.668), and eighth place in the team's ERA (4.52) in the second half. For Kim Tae-hyung, it is a choice to change the atmosphere of the team.
Coach Kim Sang-jin joined Lotte starting this year. When he was in Doosan, he drew attention as the main player who built a mound of 'Hwapun' with manager Kim Tae-hyung, and this year, he proved his reputation by sending young pitchers such as Yoon Sung-bin and Hong Min-ki to the first team one after another.
Earlier, head coach Kim Tae-hyung also announced his plan to use Lee Min-seok's must-win group from the rest of the season in September. It is also expected that coach Kim Sang-jin will play a role in the midst of a more intense ranking battle.
Pitcher coach Kim Hyun-wook joined as a conditioning coach in 2023 and changed his position to a pitching coach, and has been a residual pitching coach since last year. He also served as a bullpen coach for the national baseball team from 2023 to 2024. There are many players who have been especially helped to manage their condition and balance their pitching.
After retiring from active duty in 2021, hitting coach Lee Byung-kyu immediately began his batting coaching career at Lotte. He is considered a key figure in fostering Lotte's young lineup represented by Yoon Go-na Hwang-son. After the second half of 2023, he mainly stayed in the second division and took this opportunity to move back to the first division.
In addition to Yoon Go-na Hwang-son, new hitters such as Han Tae-yang, Park Chan-hyung and Jang Doo-sung are performing well in the first division, so coach Lee Byung-kyu's role is expected to be even more important.
Meanwhile, pitching coach Joo Hyung-kwang and batting coach Lee Jae-yul and hitting coach Lim Hoon went down to Futures. As a result, three people seem to be responsible for the sluggishness in the second half.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
