One of the Doosan Bears' concerns for the 2024 season was the aging of the fielders. As the age of players who built the Doosan Dynasty reached their mid-30s, the need for a generational change emerged. However, none of the young players were able to push them aside, and generational change remained a challenge.
However, Doosan signaled a change of generation through its off-season trade. Notably, Doosan showed strong commitment to this change to the extent that it gave up Jeong Cheol-won, the 2022 season rookie of the year.
Doosan announced on the 22nd, "We made a 2-3 trade by giving up pitcher Jung Chul-won (25) and infielder Jeon Min-jae (25) to the Lotte Giants and acquiring outfielders Kim Min-seok (20), Choo Jae-hyun (25), and pitcher Choi Woo-in (22).
The notable names are Chung and Kim Min-seok. Chung appeared like a comet in the 2022 season and won the Rookie of the Year award with four wins, three losses with 23 holds and three saves with an ERA of 3.10 in 58 games. Since then, he played in 67 games with seven wins, six losses, 11 holds, 13 saves with an ERA of 3.96 but only posted a ERA of 2-1 with six holds and one save with an ERA of 6.10 this year.
Kim Min-seok, who joined Doosan Bears, joined Lotte in the first round (ranked third overall) of the rookie draft in 2023. He had a batting average of 0.255 (102 hits in 400 times at bat), three homers, 39 RBIs and 53 runs scored in 129 games last year, his debut season. He had 100 hits in his debut season as a high school graduate in the KBO league. However, he fell behind in the competition to become a starting player in the 2024 season, and only had a batting average of 0.211 (16 hits in 76 times at bat), six RBIs and 14 runs scored in 41 games.
Doosan gave up Jeong Cheol-won because of its strong bullpen. Doosan ranked first in ERA (4.54) this year. New faces including Kim Taek-yeon, Lee Byung-hun, and Choi Ji-gang performed well, while Lee Young-ha, Kim Kang-ryul, Hong Geon-hee, and Park Chi-guk also contributed. When Doosan suffered starting difficulties due to injuries to foreign pitchers Raul Alcantara, Brandon Waddell, and Choi Seung-yong, it was the driving force behind the bullpen that enabled it to endure without collapsing. However, Chung's performance was not good enough under these circumstances, and he ended up leaving the team after this season.
Unlike the bullpens, the fielders urgently needed a generational change. Doosan has set up most of its starting lineup this year, consisting of Kim Jae-hwan, Jung Soo-bin, Cho Soo-haeng, Heo Kyung-min, Kim Jae-ho, Kang Seung-ho, Yang Seok-hwan, and catcher Yang Eui-ji. Lee Seung-yeop has been calling for a generational change throughout this season, but none of them, including Lee Yoo-chan, Kim Dae-han, Park Joon-young and Ahn Jae-seok, have been able to wake up.
Under these circumstances, Heo Kyung-min, the main third baseman, signed a four-year FA contract worth up to 4 billion won and moved to kt wiz. In addition, "genius shortstop" Kim Jae-ho also announced his retirement. On top of that, the FA between the main outfielders Kim Jae-hwan and Jung Soo-bin is just around the corner. Doosan, which is on fire, has begun to lay the foundation for the future in earnest by bringing in Kim Min-seok and Choo Jae-hyun, who are considered to have high potential. 안전놀이터
Doosan's replacement of fielders is desperate enough to send a pitcher who was once the "new king" of the team. Will he be able to succeed this time.