Let's Leave Lee Dae-ho… Lotte's year-end award ceremony reflected in reality in 2023
With the departure of Lee Dae-ho (41, retirement), the team has become even more distant from the year-end award ceremony. Lotte must face the fact that only veterans have been invited in recent years.
Lotte was the only team that did not have a winner at the KBO award ceremony held on April 27. A total of 36 award categories were awarded, including MVP and Rookie of the Year, No. 1 in both the top and bottom divisions of the Futures League and Futures League, and defensive awards by position. KIA Tigers, which does not have a title holder, produced winners in the shortstop category (Park Chan-ho) in defense, and Samsung Lions in the average earned run (Choi Ha-neul) and victory (Lee Seung-min) in the Southern League of the Futures League. There was no trophy with Lotte on it. 안전놀이터
Other award ceremonies also have similar results. Lotte Giants` Shin Yoon-hoo, Lee Tae-yeon and Seo Dong-wook received the Futures League`s Player Award at the ceremony, but they were disqualified in the award category based on their first-team performance.
Still, there are quite a few candidates for the Golden Glove. The total number of candidates is eight, which is larger than that of KIA (seven) and Hanwha Eagles (six). Except for first, second, and third basemen, all candidates in each category are included. Analysts say, however, that there are not many candidates who are competitive. In the designated hitter category, Jeon Joon-woo is hopeful. Jeon posted a batting average of 0.312, an on-base plus slugging (OPS) of 0.852, 17 homers and 77 RBIs in 138 games during the regular season this year. He is the 37-year-oldest in his team, but he is still displaying strong skills.
In other words, Lotte doesn't have as many players as veterans. Still, Choi Joon-yong, who was the nominee for the Rookie of the Year award in 2021, spent the winter busily. In other words, it proves that there is a player who breaks the egg and ascends to the top of the league. In addition, Ryu has continued to play since then. The pitching staff is well divided into Park Se-woong, Na Kyun-an, Koo Seung-min and Kim Won-joong, as well as other roles and even the late players. However, promising players including Han Dong-hee and Ko Seung-min, who should be the main players in the fielders, have yet to crack their eggs. While rookie players such as Hwang Sung-bin and Yoon Dong-hee have been prominent since last year, it remains to be seen whether they will continue to play the main players.
