Will Son Seong-bin (Lotte Giants) be able to wash away the 'giant corps' concerns for the first time in eight years.

Lotte has been agonizing over its position as a catcher in 2024. In fact, this issue has not been resolved since Kang Min-ho (Samsung Lions) left the team after the 2017 season. No catcher was shown who showed strong performance last year. Lotte's home turf has been unstable for seven seasons.스포츠토토

Before the start of last year's season, it was predicted that Yoo Kang-nam and Information-geun would play the role of the home turf only for one year. As expected, Yoo Kang-nam wore an opening catcher's meat. Information-geun also wore a mask to fill the gap when there was a gap.

However, the catcher's team still showed weak performance. Lotte's batting average for its team in the 2024 season is only 0.193. He is the only team that is in the last place in the 100% range among the 10 teams. The on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) was also low at 0.564.

Yoo Kang-nam signed a four-year, 8 billion won free agent contract with Lotte in November 2022 and transferred from the LG Twins. He has drawn attention as a player who will end Lotte's catcher's cruel death.

However, he showed little performance. He played in 121 games in the 2023 season, recording 10 homers, 92 hits, 55 RBIs, 45 runs batted in (H270). He played in 52 games due to injury in the 2024 season. He only had five homers, 26 hits, 20 RBIs, 11 runs batted in (0.191).

Yoo Kang-nam also showed weak batting performance. He played 89 games and had only two homers last year. He had 30 hits, seven RBIs and nine runs scored. His batting average was only 0.226. Notably, he suffered the humiliation of hitting triplets in the second inning against LG on August 3 last year, with no outs and runners on the first and second bases.

There was hope. It was Son Seong-bin.

Son made his first-team debut with Lotte in 2021. In high school, Son was considered a catcher who was good at both offense and defense. In the 2021 KBO Rookie Draft, he was the first choice and wore a Lotte uniform.

He played 20 games during his debut season and 45 games during the 2023 season, extending his playing time in the first team. Last year, he played 86 games. Son had six home runs, 30 hits, 21 RBIs and 24 runs scored.

After Yoo Kang-nam was out for the season due to knee injury, he has more chances to play. Son has been called by manager Kim Tae-hyung since the second half of the season, and has more days to play as the starting catcher. He also pitched in 445 ⅔ innings, the most among Lotte's catchers last year.

However, he failed to complete the race. He suffered a tendon injury in his wrist at the end of the season and finished the season somewhat early. He was also on the World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier 12 preliminary list, but failed to wear the national flag because he had to undergo surgery.

Son will start preparing for the 2025 season with the Futures (second division) team. "The Futures team will have a spring camp at Tainan Asia-Pacific International Baseball Center in Taiwan from today and will train until March 7," Lotte said on Sunday.

In the early days of the camp, intense physical and technical training were expected. However, Son expressed high expectations, saying, "I want to play baseball as soon as possible because I am in good physical condition." "I will quickly improve my condition in a warm campsite in a good environment," Son said. "I want to contribute to my team's ability to be in a higher position in the upcoming season."

His homework is to raise his low batting average. Son recorded the most home runs since his debut last year, showing off his slugging capability. He had the highest slugging percentage among catchers in his team. However, his batting average was just 0.197.

Lotte took five catchers to its first-team camp. Yoo Kang-nam, Information-geun, Baekdu, Park Geon-woo and Park Jae-yeop are sweating for the new season. Baekdu is in his second year as a pro, and Park and Park Jae-yeop are rookie players. Baseball fans are paying keen attention to whether Son will be able to overcome his shortcomings to win the competition and become Lotte's main catcher.