LG Twins’ Seo Gun-chang has been removed from the disabled list and will be looking for a new team. LG announced that it removed 12 players, including Seo Geon-chang and Song Eun-beom, from its holdout list on Friday, the deadline for submitting holdout players.
The most prominent of the players to leave LG is Seo, 34. The 2012 Rookie of the Year and 2014 MVP with the KBO’s only 201 hits, Seo was an accurate shift-hitter who anchored the Nexen Heroes’ second base.
After the first half of 2021 ended, LG made a one-for-one trade to acquire Seo in exchange for starting pitcher Chung Chan-heon. It was a move that solved LG’s hole at second base and brought in a “championship hitter” who could lead them to a championship. However, Seo did not perform as well as expected for LG.
With a batting average of 2.5 ppg, his lowest grade since debuting, Seo became eligible for free agency after the season. Unfortunately, his batting didn’t improve last year. His batting average dropped further to 2.224. He spent more time in the second team due to slumps and injuries. He missed his second chance at free agency. He opted for free agency.
This year seemed like a golden opportunity for him.
Manager Yoon Kyung-yeop, who worked with him at Nexen, came to LG. Yoon gave Seo a chance to bounce back by giving him the starting job at second base. After working hard over the winter, Seo raised expectations by batting first in the exhibition games with a 3-for-6.2 RBI.
However, his performance in the regular season was different. In the month of April, he batted just 2-for-2 (18 hits in 81 at-bats). He also made some ridiculous errors, and his defense became increasingly unreliable. Eventually, Yeom made a decision. On May 19, Shin Min-jae, who had been a pinch-hitter, suddenly became the starting second baseman with his Altoran-like hitting and increasingly steady defense.
In September, Seo came back in the expanded roster, but there was no place for him. LG was already in first place and didn’t need him. His name wasn’t even on the Korean Series roster. Forty-four games, a 2 percent batting average (22-for-110), 카지노사이트가이드 and 12 RBIs were Seo’s stats for the 2023 season. In his three years with LG, Seo batted just .229 (129-for-564) with four home runs and 54 RBIs.
When free agency came around again, Seo didn’t file for free agency this time. Instead, he asked LG to release him.
“Seo’s agent requested his release,” said LG general manager Cha Myung-seok, “We decided to release him to give our veterans who are currently struggling to get opportunities, including Seo, a chance. The same goes for Song Eun-beom and Lee Ik-woong, but it was more about opportunity than illegal gambling.”
If you’re a team in need of a veteran second baseman, you might want to give Seo a chance. Let’s see if Seo can redeem himself with one last chance.