Lotte Giants, Kim Tae-hyung manager fiddles with the idea of returning Lee Min-seok to the bullpen: "No pitcher with overpowering stuff to win games → Park Se-woong has never worked in the bullpen..."

*This content was translated by AI.

Lotte Giants manager Kim Tae-hyung (58) is deeply troubled over the team's mound restructuring. While hinting at the possibility of returning Lee Min-seok (23), a right-handed fireballer who has recently performed well as a starter, to the bullpen, he drew a clear line against changing the role of Park Se-woong (31), a key figure in the starting rotation.

Manager Kim Tae-hyung outlined his plans for the team's pitching staff during a meeting with reporters ahead of the Kiwoom Heroes game held at Gocheok Sky Dome on the 21st.

Currently, the manager's biggest concern is the lack of a pitcher with "overpowering stuff" who can reliably take charge in the late innings. Kim stated, "Right now, we don't have a reliever who can dominate opponents with sheer velocity," expressing his frustration. As a result, he is seriously considering the strategic move of bringing Lee Min-seok back to the bullpen, even though Lee has been establishing himself as a starter. Although Lee has shown strong performances as a starter, the manager appears to believe that moving him to the bullpen would better balance the team overall. Lee is a pitcher whose fastball reaches the mid-150s km/h. In his previous start on the 19th against Kiwoom at Gocheok, his top speed reached 151 km/h, but he consistently maintained an average fastball velocity in the high 140s km/h.

At the same time, Kim drew a clear line against the theory of converting Park Se-woong to the bullpen. The manager said, "Se-woong has no experience in the middle (bullpen) at all, so I don't know how he would fare," and added, "If he moves to the bullpen and the results are poor, and then he returns to the starting rotation, it will only create more confusion for both the team and the player." This is clearly not a viable option.

Ultimately, whether Lee Min-seok's role will change appears to depend on the performance of newly joined Asian quota pitcher Shota Iimura. Iimura, who joined as a replacement for the recently released Masaya Koyama, completed a bullpen session on the 20th, throwing 60 pitches and recording a top fastball velocity of 149 km/h.

Lotte plans to utilize Iimura as a bullpen resource. With no issues regarding his physical condition, the team will coordinate his debut schedule once administrative procedures such as player registration are finalized. Whether Lee Min-seok will be converted to the bullpen will likely depend on how he performs against first-division batters.

In fact, manager Kim Tae-hyung acknowledged on the 20th that he considered making a pitching change during a game where Na Gyun-woo, who started and pitched six innings allowing eight hits (one home run), six strikeouts, two walks, and one run, faced a bases-loaded, one-out crisis. Kim stated, "We had no card that could completely shut them down. If (Choi) Jun-yong had been in the middle, I would have considered sending him in. He's a pitcher who can win with overpowering stuff. The only pitcher who could be described as having overpowering stuff is (Park) Jung-min, but even he has shown some improvement." This also revealed the manager's concerns about the bullpen.

Amid a fierce race for standings, manager Kim Tae-hyung, tasked with securing a "velocity-based bullpen," is under close watch to see how he will utilize the Lee Min-seok and Iimura cards to balance the mound.

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*This content was translated by AI.