Straight walk → fit ball → 2nd leg. What happened to the bull pen of the 155km left fastball. In the eyes of the master, he was seen. It's not easy to come back and find my old self
Aug 21, 2025
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Lotte Giants' Hong Min-ki, who was establishing himself as a fastball left-handed bullpen, suddenly went down to the second division.
Prior to the match against LG in Jamsil on the 20th, Lotte lowered Yoon Dong-hee and Hong Min-ki to the second division and called up Na Seung-yeop and Choi Jun-yong.
I was curious about Hong Min-ki's sudden march to the 2nd Army. Hong Min-ki, a left-handed prospect who joined as the fourth-ranked player in the second round of 2020, was unable to bloom due to ball control anxiety and was establishing himself as a bullpen pitcher this season. He has recorded two losses and three holds with an ERA of 3.09 in 25 games this year. Although he was unstable in control of his ball, he displayed stability by striking out 39 with 11 walks during 32 innings in the first team.
As a left-handed pitcher who distributes up to 155km to Lotte, who was worried because there was no clear left-handed bullpen, played an active role in the bullpen, Lotte had a card to entrust the opponent's strong left-handed batter.
However, as he suddenly went down to the second division, there was a doubt that he might have been injured.
No. Lotte manager Kim Tae-hyung said, `All of a sudden, he came.' That I can't catch my control all of a sudden.
Hong Min-ki took the mound in the top of the eighth inning with a 7-3 lead against Samsung on the 17th and allowed a straight walk to the lead Park Seung-gyu, before being replaced by another left-handed pitcher Chung Hyun-soo. Since then, Kim Won-joong hit a grand slam and tied it 7-7, and Lotte's escape from consecutive losses was canceled.
And in the match against LG in Jamsil on the 19th, he took the mound after two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, trailing 0-3, and got on base with a ball that hit his body for the second time in the match against left-handed Shin Min-jae, and was immediately replaced by Kim Kang-hyun.
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Director Kim said, `It's like that all of a sudden psychologically, I think I need to calm down a little. The first batter against Samsung was like that, and he threw the ball in the bullpen yesterday and threw it over there even when he went up to the mound. "Hong Min-ki's control suddenly deteriorated significantly."
Manager Kim, who received many pitchers' balls as a catcher and has extensive coaching and managerial experience, was taking this seriously.
Coach Kim said " (the control of the ball) was what he had. I got better in the second division, came to the first division and caught it, but suddenly it got worse again. Let's keep throwing in the second team…He said it was not easy to find his former self when he came back to the first team once he did this,' he said, adding that it is not easy to recover his control as soon as possible when a pitcher with bad control gets better and worse again. "I'm thinking about receiving the report and posting it when I need it when I enter the expanded entry in September," Kim said.
Lotte lost again on the day, falling into a 10-game losing streak (including one draw), falling behind SSG (56 wins, 4 draws, 53 losses), which won against KT on the day with 58 wins, 4 draws, and 55 losses.
The left-handed bullpen is a necessary resource not only in the season but also in the postseason. In particular, fastball left-handed bullpens that spray more than 150 kilometers are not common, making them more valuable.
Will Hong Min-ki be able to overcome the sudden crisis and spray fastballs again in the first team. It is essential for yourself and Lotte.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
