Lotte Giants of professional baseball is almost certain to be eliminated from the semifinals. As they entered the process of organizing this season, they began to organize their teams.
Lotte announced the list of a total of seven players to be released on the 21st. It has parted ways with seven players, including pitchers Shin Jung-rak (37), Park Myung-hyun (23), catchers Jung Jae-hwan (20), Min Seong-woo (25), infielder Ko Kyung-pyo (23), Choi Jong-eun (26), and outfielder Kim Min-sung (23). A total of 10 players have already taken off their Lotte uniforms just before the end of this season since the release of pitcher Choi Seol-woo, catcher Ji Chi-wan, and infielder Kim Seo-jin in June.
Shin Jeong-rak is the player who attracted the most attention among the players who were released. He was the only registered player among the players who were released. A native of Bukil High School and Korea University, Shin was named the first overall pick in the first round of the rookie draft in 2010, and posted 347 games with 27 wins, 26 losses and 11 saves with 32 holds and an ERA of 5.25 in 12 seasons throughout his career with LG, Hanwha, and Lotte. 2
He was released by Hanwha after the end of the 022 season, but Lotte recruited him. He displayed fairly solid performance last year, with a 4.66 ERA with four wins and one hold in 34 games (29 innings), but he never made the first team roster this season. In the Futures League, he recorded 18 strikeouts with three losses and six holds in 18 games (20.2 innings), and was eventually released.
Catcher Jung Jae-hwan was nominated for the ninth round of the 2023 Rookie Draft, and Min Sung-woo and Ko Kyung-pyo finally joined the team as all of the players, so they couldn’t fulfill their dreams.
After receiving the nomination in the upper round of the rookie draft, however, the team also released the highly anticipated resources. It was at one point in the past that people had high expectations and now they are gone. Park Myung-hyun, a graduate of Yatapo High School and the third round of the 2020 rookie draft, has also been released.
Park Myung-hyun was a promising player who achieved one-two punch along with Oh Won-seok of SSG when he was in Yatap High School. All of his siblings were professional players and played baseball together when he was young. Park Young-hyun (21) of KT Wiz, who finished the national team by throwing a fastball, is a cousin of Park Myung-hyun who was born in 2012. In addition, Park Jung-hyun (23), an infielder who is currently serving in the military in Sangmu, Hanwha, is also a cousin of the same age. Park Myung-hyun, Park Young-hyun, and Park Jung-hyun played baseball together at Bucheon Buk Elementary School in martial arts, and dreamed of becoming a professional player. 먹튀검증
In the 2020 season, Park recorded 13 consecutive scoreless games in the Futures League, raising expectations. However, he moved back to the second division with only 27.00 ERA in two games (⅔ innings) without losing or losing in the first division. Ahead of the 2021 season, the club completed its own driveline program and underwent a process to correct its pitching form, but failed to make it to the first division. After the end of this year’s season, he completed his mandatory military service and returned to the team midway through the 2022 season. However, he suffered ups and downs.
Still, the fact that young pitchers in the fifth year, especially those in the mid to late 140 kilometers of movement in the sidearm, have released pitchers who throw many balls means that expectations have declined. In this season’s Futures League performance was one win and one loss with an earned run average of 20.25 in four games (four innings).
It was an injury. No matter how promising he was, if he failed to overcome his injury and failed to display performance, he had to make a cool-headed judgment. According to a source in the second division, he has had frequent injuries since he was discharged from the military last year. He had injuries around his biceps in his elbow and suffered minor injuries, which meant he failed to throw balls properly. If he recovers from the injury and gets better, he will not be able to display performance due to lack of ball power.
Lim Kyung-wan, the second-tier pitching coach, said, “I was discharged from the military service last year, but I had two problems. The game wasn’t going well, so I tried to find my own mechanism, but it didn’t work out. I had to show some things this year, but I couldn’t show much of the game. Even if I played in the game, my ball pitching was not good, and my control was not good. I exercised hard and did a lot, but it didn’t work out well. I have to be cool-headed, but I feel sorry for him.”
He is still young. Unless he fully recovers from injury and is caught up in performance immediately, there is a possibility that he will regain his ball power. He could be tested by other teams after being released from the pro league. Moreover, there are circumstances in place where he can make a comeback such as the independent league, and there are many cases where he re-enters the pro league through such routes. Will Park Myung-hyun, once highly anticipated promising player, be able to continue his career after being released.
