Choi Joon-yong, the key player and key member of Lotte’s bullpen, is showing sluggish performances in a series of demonstration games.
Choi Jun-yong pitched in relief in an exhibition game against Hanhwa held at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on the 25th, and collapsed with 3 hits (2 homers) and 1 walk in 0.1 innings, 4 runs (4 earned), and suffered a yoke of defeat.
In the beginning of the 6th inning, Choi Jun-yong, who took the mound for relief following starter Han Hyun-hee, allowed a walk to Noh Soo-gwang and a hit to Jeong Eun-won, causing a crisis on the 1st and 3rd base safely. Subsequently, Chae Eun-seong allowed a 1 RBI sacrifice fly and allowed a tie, and then O’Grady and Noh Si-hwan allowed consecutive home runs. In the end, Choi Jun-yong could not complete the 6th episode and was replaced with Choi Lee-jun.
If it’s a temporary slump, Sutton can understand. The problem is that Choi Jun-yong is often sluggish. Out of the 4 games Choi Jun-yong took the mound, he lost 3 runs.
It was not good with 2 hits and 1 run in 1 inning against LG on the 18th, which was his first appearance. In the next appearance, against Samsung on the 20th, he pitched well with one hit and no runs in one inning, and seemed to be on the right track. However, against Daegu Samsung on the 21st, it collapsed greatly with 2 hits (1 home run), 1 strikeout and 2 runs (2 earned) in 1 inning.
It’s an exhibition game, but Lotte’s team average ERA is currently 4.81, which is not good at the bottom of the league. In particular, Choi Jun-yong’s role in the bullpen is very important, and in the demonstration game, Choi’s performance is very poor with an average ERA of 16.20 in 4 games and 1 loss.
The difference is clear even compared to the demonstration game performance over the past two seasons. In 2022, he had a 3.00 ERA with 1 win in 3 games and 1 hold, and in 2021, he had good results with 2 wins in 5 games and an ERA of 1.80. 안전놀이터
Currently, Koo Seung-min (4 matches, 1 hold, ERA 0), Kim Sang-su (3 matches, 1 save, ERA 0), Moon Kyung-chan (3 matches, ERA 0), and Lee Tae-yeon (6 matches, ERA 0) are showing good performances. In addition, if setup man Choi Jun-yong rebounds, the icing on the cake.
There are three exhibition games left for Lotte. In the worst case, Choi Jun-yong could start in the Futures League instead of the first team. Attention is focusing on whether Choi Jun-yong will be able to fire a signal of a rebound in the remaining demonstration games.