Despite his reunion with his mentor, there was no rebound. Now that he’s a “free man,” will Seo Gun-chang (34) have a chance to rebound?
On the 25th, the deadline for submitting holdovers, LG announced that 12 players were removed from the roster. Pitchers Song Eun-beom Lee Chan-hyuk Kim Tae-hyung Sung Jae-hyun Lim Jung-woo, infielders Seo Geon-chang Jeong Ju-hyun Kim Sung-hyeop Choi Hyun-joon, and outfielders Lee Ieon-woong Choi Min-chang and Lee Chul-min were notified of their release.
In April, Lee was under police investigation for illegal gambling on the Internet, effectively ending his career. In addition, Jung Joo-hyun, one of the “Edmonton Kids” born in 1990, announced his retirement after 15 years of professional baseball.
The most high-profile of LG’s releases is Seo Gun-chang. Seo joined LG as a developmental player in 2008, but was released and given a second chance with Nexen (now Kiwoom). Eventually, after only playing since 2012, Seo’s career blossomed in 2014, when he became the first KBO player to reach the 200-hit plateau and won the MVP award. The pearl in the dirt was beginning to shine.
But the sparkle was short-lived. Seo’s career slowly went downhill from there, as he suffered a series of ACL injuries, shin injuries, and more. In 2021, 카지노사이트 he took a self-imposed salary cut to prepare for free agency.
Then came the turning point in his career.
At the trade deadline in late July, he was traded for Chung Chan-heon in a one-for-one deal. LG brought in Seo to solve their second base problem. Seo was returning to the team that helped him get his start in the pros and gave him the bitter taste of being released.
However, in 144 games with Kiwoom and LG, Seo batted .253 (130-for-513) with six home runs, 67 RBI, 18 stolen bases, and a .693 OPS. Despite his efforts to lower his free agency rating by cutting himself, Seo didn’t perform up to par. He opted for free agency. But it didn’t work out well. In 2022, he played in just 77 games, batting just 2-for-49 (219 at-bats) with two home runs and 18 RBIs. Seo had no choice but to become a free agent third baseman.
Ahead of the 2023 season, he reunited with the manager who discovered him and guided him to the 200-hit plateau. With Yoon at the helm, Seo seemed to have a chance to rebound. Yoon has been very supportive of Seo’s resurgence. In this year’s exhibition games, Seo batted 4-for-6 with 17 RBIs (47 at-bats), four home runs, four doubles, and five runs scored. His batting title set the stage for the regular season.
But there was no more rebound for Seo.
The exhibition games were the high point of the year. The offense faltered, and Shin Min-jae took over as the starting second baseman. He played so well that Seo’s presence was not missed, and he never left. In the end, Seo didn’t get to celebrate the team’s regular season title or the Korean Series sweep. He was designated for assignment on May 19 of the regular season and didn’t receive a call-up until the September roster expansion.
In 44 regular-season games, Seo batted 2-for-22 (110 at-bats) with 12 RBIs and a .542 OPS. Despite being a free agent three times, Seo was unable to rebound. Seo was no longer a part of the LG organization, and the team ended up releasing him for the second time since 2008.
The question is whether Seo will be given another chance to redeem himself. His release also means that he was ignored in the second round of the draft on April 22. 사설토토 It could be argued that no one saw the potential for a rebound. However, with a second-round pick, there is the burden of having to pay a transfer fee to the original club and fulfill a mandatory first-team registration period.
Instead, a free agent can be utilized without any restrictions. Seo will be given a second chance, as his second release hurts just as much as the first.