There is another one besides the Yushin High trio! Lotte's 7R Lee Jun-seo overcomes finger injury to make a comeback in the first division: "My younger teammates' performances motivated me... I can do well too" [Interview]

*This content was translated by AI.

At the beginning of this season, the KBO League was heated up by the Yushin High trio. Shin Jae-in (19, NC 1st Round 2nd pick), Oh Jae-won (19, Hanwha 1st Round 3rd pick), and Lee Kang-min (19, KT 2nd Round 16th pick) drew attention for making the opening roster as high school graduates, which is rare. However, behind them was another rookie from Yushin High who started a bit later. He is Lotte Giants right-handed pitcher Lee Jun-seo (20).

But there were not only three rookies from Yushin High in the 2026 draft. There was one more at Lotte. Lee Jun-seo graduated from Hamhak Elementary (Cheoin-gu Little League)-Maehyang Middle School-Yushin High School and joined Lotte as the 64th overall pick in the 7th round of the 2026 KBO Rookie Draft. He also joined the first division's first spring training camp, drawing expectations, and made it onto the opening roster. However, due to an injury to his right middle finger right after the opening, he could only watch his one-year-younger Yushin High teammates play in the KBO League.

Recently, Lee Jun-seo met with StarNews at Jamsil and said, "Since I was drafted in a lower round, my story didn't come up much when my younger teammates were getting attention. At the start of the season, their performances felt good. However, while I was recovering, all three of them were doing well and kept appearing on SNS as the 'Yushin High trio,' so I did feel some stress."

They were so close during their Yushin High days that they even traveled together as a group of four. As the recovery period turned out to be longer than expected, contact with the children became a bit less frequent. Lee Jun-seo returned to actual play on June 21, about three months later, in a Futures League game against the Busan KT Wiz 2nd division team.

But they always think of each other. At the beginning of the season, Lee Kang-min said, "Jun-seo hyung works so hard, so I believe he will do well. I hope he can come up to the first division soon and do well together."

Lee Jun-seo knows that feeling well. He said, "As we entered the pros, contact naturally became less frequent, but if I'm in the first division, I think we'll meet and contact each other often. Also, my younger teammates' performances became a motivation for me. Since they are doing well, I thought I could do well too, which gave me strength." He smiled.

The recovery period, which turned out to be longer than expected, became a time for reorganization that allowed him to build strength. Lee Jun-seo reflected, "During recovery, I did a lot of weight training and significantly increased my muscle mass. I was worried that my performance might not return when I came back, but fortunately, I gained much more strength than expected."

He continued, "Hyung Jung Hyun encouraged me from the exhibition games, saying, 'Since you're a high school graduate, it's best to just look at the center and throw confidently.' So, for now, I want to try to collide with what I have in the first division." He spoke with determination.

Lee Jun-seo is known as a player with good physical utilization despite his sturdy build of 177cm and 77kg. During his Yushin High days, he boasted excellent pitching ability, striking out 81 batters in 77 innings using the knuckle curve as his main weapon. The Lotte organization introduced him as "a pitcher who is good at game management based on his ability to throw breaking balls."

He said, "Beyond baseball, being confident is my biggest strength. In terms of baseball, I am most confident in my fastball and pitching tempo. I mainly throw knuckle curves and changeups, and I have been confident in my knuckle curve since high school. Now that I'm in the first division, I want to be of even 1% help to the team's victories. In the future, I want to become a player who consistently plays in the first division." He expressed his ambitious plans.

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*This content was translated by AI.