‘The new face of Whimoon High School in the Giants’.
himoon High School, founded in 1907, is a prestigious baseball high school with both tradition and skills. They have produced some of the best players in Korea, including Kim Seon-woo, Park Yong-taek, Kim Jae-yoon, Park Min-woo, and Lee Jeong-hoo, and have won several national championships. However, the Lotte Giants had no particular relationship with Whimoon High School. Most of the Lotte star players from Whimoon High School probably do not even exist in fans’ memories.
Two new players from Whimoon High School who joined the Lotte Giants this season showed off their distinct presence. These are Minseok Kim and Jeonghoon Lee. Kim Min-seok has been consistently participating in the first team this season, becoming the first player in the club to reach a record of 100 hits in his first year after graduating from high school, and recording a final batting average of .255. On the surface, it may not seem like he has outstanding results, but considering that he is a first-year player, there is no doubt that he is a player with more expectations for next year. Lee Jung-hoon joined Lotte this season after being released from Kia Tigers last year. He joined the first team in the middle of the season and performed well in the batting department as expected, recording .209 and 6 in the final..
Following 2023, when two players from Whimoon High School performed well, more players from Whimoon High School are expected to play well for the Lotte Giants in 2024. This is because two Whimoon High School players were selected by the Lotte Giants through this KBO rookie draft. The main characters are left-handed pitcher Park Seong-jun (selected in the 6th round) and right-handed infielder Ahn Woo-jin (8th round).
The two players, who met at the Whimoon High School baseball club’s indoor practice facility, revealed that they had consistently dreamed of being selected by the Lotte Giants even before the rookie draft. He said he couldn’t believe it at first that he was joining his favorite club with his high school classmate at the same time.
The two players are said to have traveled to Busan together before the draft. It is said that the steps of the two baseball players from Seoul naturally headed towards Sajik Baseball Stadium. Sajik Baseball Stadium is always filled with enthusiastic cheers and cheers from fans. In particular, it is also the stadium where Kim Min-seok, a one-year senior from high school and a super rookie of the Lotte Giants, plays. The sight of their senior, with whom they had gone through hardships just a year ago, walking around the field receiving enthusiastic cheers from the audience must have felt powerful to the two players. In fact, this season, when Kim Min-seok came to bat, the crowd’s cheering became even louder.
