7 games to go → Lotte's initial all-out battle → To make matters worse, even Lee Min-seok, 154km, is excluded from the first team... Kim Taehyung's head got complicated

Sep 23, 2025

7 games to go → Lotte's initial all-out battle → To make matters worse, even Lee Min-seok, 154km, is excluded from the first team... Kim Taehyung's head got complicated
Lee Min-seok is heading to the dugout after finishing a scoreless pitch in the bottom of the fifth inning against Lotte and LG at Jamsil Baseball Stadium on the 21st. Jamsil= Reporter's wook@sportschosun.com/2025.08.21/



The power leakage is getting bigger toward the end of the season. The head coach's mind only gets more complicated.

The Lotte Giants made changes to their first-team entry ahead of the match against the NC Dinos at Munsu Baseball Stadium in Ulsan on the 23rd.

Lee Min-seok, who has been an axis of the starting lineup this season and has been playing as a bullpen in September, has been excluded from the first team.




Instead, rookie left-hander Lee Young-jae was registered. Lee Young-jae is a left-handed pitcher wearing a Lotte uniform in the seventh round (No. 64 overall).

This is the second call-up of the season. He came to the first team against the Doosan Bears in Busan on July 9 and was replaced immediately after allowing Doosan's Jung Soo-bin to hit a home run. And the next day, he was immediately excluded from the first team.

7 games to go → Lotte's initial all-out battle → To make matters worse, even Lee Min-seok, 154km, is excluded from the first team... Kim Taehyung's head got complicated
Lotte Lee Young-jae is pitching hard in a game between Doosan and Lotte at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on the 10th. Busan = Reporter's wook@sportschosun.com/2025.07.10/
Lotte is sixth in the KT Wiz in fifth place, trailing by one and a half games. Whenever one game and one game are lost in the remaining seven games, the possibility of entering autumn baseball is rapidly lowered. Also, this week, unlike September of the remaining games, five games (23-26th and 28th) have to be played in a week. There are two games left against Samsung, including the fifth-place competitor, the NC match, one game against LG-Hanwha-SSG, and one game against Doosan, respectively.




As long as Velazquez has been declared dead as a starter, Lee Min-seok, who played the starting rotation all season, may be needed. Nevertheless, Lee Min-seok's exclusion from the first group is likely to be an injury such as elbow pain or accumulation of fatigue.

7 games to go → Lotte's initial all-out battle → To make matters worse, even Lee Min-seok, 154km, is excluded from the first team... Kim Taehyung's head got complicated
The game between Lotte and NC at Changwon NC Park on the 19th, and Lotte Jeon Joon-woo, with one out and runners on the first and second bases in the top of the seventh inning, greets fans as he replaces Choi Hang. Changwon= Reporter Huh Sang-wook's wook@sportschosun.com/2025.09.19/
Lotte lost 5-15 against the Kiwoom Heroes in Busan on the 20th, even though it deployed all of Lee Min-seok, Velazquez, and Park Jin, the No. 1 replacement starter, as Gamboa collapsed without completing the fourth inning.

In the match against Changwon NC Dinos on the 19th, when Jeon Jun-woo's return set the team's tone and won an 18-2 victory, he quickly replaced starter Na Kyun-an during the fourth inning, and Park Se-woong even took the mound in the bullpen (1 inning), which is rare. It seems to be making the most of it in practice until the starting pitchers' bullpen pitching date.




On this day, Lotte will play in the lineup of Hwang Sung-bin (center fielder), Ko Seung-min (second base), Yoon Dong-hee (right wing), Reyes (left wing), Jeon Joon-woo (designated hitter), Na Seung-yeop (first base), Son Ho-young (third base), Jeon Min-jae (striker) and Son Sung-bin (catcher). It is noteworthy that Ko Seung-min, who was playing in the outfield and first base recently, came back to second base. The starting lineup is 'initial' itself. The starter is Park Se-woong.

7 games to go → Lotte's initial all-out battle → To make matters worse, even Lee Min-seok, 154km, is excluded from the first team... Kim Taehyung's head got complicated
Lotte and SSG match held at Sajik Stadium in Busan on the 13th. Second base with two outs in the top of the first inning. Lotte starter Velazquez was substituted. Lotte manager Kim Tae-hyung watching the game. Busan = Song Jeong-heon Reporter's songs@sportschosun.com/2025.09.13/




This article was translated by Naver AI translator.