KBO Roundup: Lotte Giants Hire New Manager; Dinos Bring Back KBO Legend for One More Season

With the KBO offseason underway for most teams, clubs are building toward next season.

Lotte Giants hire former player as next manager- After missing the playoffs for a ninth consecutive season and finishing seventh for the fourth straight year, the Lotte Giants have hired Dong-wook Lee as their next manager.

A Busan native, Lee played six seasons for the hometown Giants. After spending time on the coaching staffs of the Lotte Giants, LG Twins and NC Dinos, he was hired as NC’s manager in October 2018. He led the Dinos to their first and only Korean Series championship in 2020.

Lee was dismissed during the 2022 season and joined the San Diego Padres organization in 2023. After serving on the South Korean national team’s coaching staff, he will now take over as manager of his hometown club.

Lee will look to lead Lotte to its first Korean Series championship since 1992. The Giants have not won a playoff series since 2012 and have made the postseason just once since 2013.

NC Dinos bring back KBO legend- Last week, the NC Dinos announced the return of An-seop Son on a one-year contract.

The 38-year-old outfielder ranks third in KBO history with 2,655 career hits, seventh with 3,745 total bases and 18th with 1,101 RBIs.

Son played for the Dinos from 2022-24 and will return in 2027, potentially for the final season of his career. It would be his 21st season overall.

He led the KBO in hits in 2012, 2013, 2017 and 2023. He also won the batting title in 2023 with the Dinos, hitting .339.

A six-time Golden Glove Award winner, Son has represented South Korea internationally on several occasions. He won gold medals at the 2014 and 2018 Asian Games and the 2015 Premier12 tournament.

Long Beach Coast win KBO Fall League title- The KBO Fall League concluded Saturday with the Long Beach Coast of the United States’ Pioneer League becoming the first American club to win the competition.

After reaching the championship series in their debut Pioneer League season, the Coast traveled to Ulsan, South Korea, for the tournament and finished with a 10-0-2 record to go unbeaten.

The championship game was a rematch of the teams’ 6-6 tie to open the Fall League against the hometown Ulsan Whales.

After the Whales took a 2-1 lead in the seventh inning, the Coast tied the game on a Cooper Vest home run in the bottom half of the frame. Cuba Bess followed with an RBI double to give Long Beach a 3-2 lead.

Tremayne Cobb drove in two runs in the eighth to extend the Coast’s lead to 5-2. Long Beach eventually pushed the advantage to 6-2 and held on for the victory, completing an unbeaten tournament run.

Bess was named tournament MVP after hitting five home runs and driving in 16 runs. He also delivered the game-winning hit in the championship game.

Coast hitter Benjamin Rosengard was named the tournament’s best hitter, while former Seattle Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu was named best manager after coming out of retirement to guide Long Beach to the championship.

The tournament featured teams from the United States, Japan, Australia and China, along with South Korean Futures League teams and an independent club.