13 wins, 9 losses, and two first-place finishes. The Lotte Giants had a stellar May, and ‘Captain’ Ahn Chi-hong (33) was at the centre of it all.
The Lotte Giants recognised players for their outstanding performances during the month of May and named Ahn Chi-hong as the Lotte Dasom Home Service Monthly Most Valuable Player (MVP) for May.
Ahn recorded 20 hits and 12 RBIs last month. His batting average was not high at 0.274, but he also drew 10 walks, stole three bases without fail, and made no errors in defence.토토사이트
The Lotte Global Logistics Pitchers of the Month were Kim Sang-soo and Park Se-woong. Reliever Kim Sang-soo appeared in 13 games and recorded one win (a relief victory) and four saves, while starter Park Se-woong won three games and had three consecutive quality starts (six or more innings pitched and three or fewer earned runs allowed) with an ERA of 1.88 in five games.
Noh Jin-hyuk and Park Seung-wook were named the LOTTE Global Logistics Hitter of the Month. Noh hit .318 with 21 hits and an OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) of 0.892. Park Seung-wook had a stellar May, batting .318 with 14 hits and an OPS of 0.843.
Thanks to them, Lotte is 29-19, two games behind the SSG Landers and one game behind the LG Twins in third place. In the past, Lotte has been labelled as a “bomde” team because of its early-season sparkle, only to slip after May, but this time around, the upswing has been sustained.
However, things are not all smiles. Han Dong-hee (24), who was dubbed “Little Lee Dae-ho” for his reliable long-hitting tool, was expunged from the first team roster today. After joining the team in 2018 with high hopes, Han struggled to find his groove early in the season.
While his batting average improved to 0.169 in April and 0.278 in May, he was still batting just 0.235 and his on-base percentage (0.307) hasn’t risen to the level expected of him, earning him a trip to the Futures (Class 2). He also has just two home runs, none of which came in May.
With Han out, utility man Noh Jin-hyuk, who has a one-hit wonder, is likely to take over at third base. Noh has improved his batting average enough to be named the May Player of the Month. Ahn Chi-hong could stay at second base, with Lee Hak-joo or Park Seung-wook, who have been hitting well of late, alternating at shortstop, or Lee Hak-joo and Park Seung-wook could move to third base.
But eventually, Han Dong-hee will have to come up. There are still around 100 games to go. The team needs to have a solid base of players to continue to perform well in the long run. He’s hit double-digit home runs in each of the last three years, and last year he hit triple digits (.307) for the first time in his career. How quickly he can improve his form in the Futures League will be key.