WBN’s International Player of the Week is Lotte Giants’ second baseman Go Seung-min of the Korea Baseball Organization. Seung-min, 24, hit for the cycle against the LG Twins at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan, South Korea on September 17.
Seung-min went 5-for-5 with three RBI. Seung-min also hit the decisive solo home run to give the Lotte Giants a 4-3 lead against LG Twins reliever Lee Jong-jun. The Lotte Giants didn’t look back and won the game 7-3, with Seung-min adding an RBI double in a three-run eighth against reliever Baek Seung-hyeon.
Lotte Giants 2B Go Seung-min hit for the cycle today in a win over the Twins????#고승민 pic.twitter.com/SVWDDAtlnX
— KBO in English (@KBO_ENG) September 17, 2024
It was a big win for the Lotte Giants, who are 62-68 and sit two games behind the SSG Landers for the sixth and final KBO playoff spot with ten games left.
The Lotte Giants are being guided by a career year from Seung-min. He has a career-high 12 home runs, 79 RBI, 134 hits, a .468 slugging percentage, and 442 at-bats. He has a batting average of .308, an on-base percentage of .359, and an OPS of .827 this season.
In 2019, Seung-min was drafted with the eighth overall pick in the first round of the KBO draft by the Lotte Giants. His career numbers in the KBO are 19 home runs, 139 RBI, 14 stolen bases, and a slash line of .284/.351/.419 in 1,014 at-bats.
The left-handed hitting Seung-min also played in the Australian Baseball League for Geeolong-Korea in the 2019-2020 season and played just 15 games before he was injured. He also missed the 2021 season in the KBO and didn’t return to the Lotte Giants until 2022.
In 2022, he had a career high.834 OPS, but it was 234 at-bats, which is 208 at-bats fewer than this season. In 2023, he had a down year with an OPS of .649 in 255 at-bats, but he has fully rebounded this season.
Seung-min now looks poised to be a part of the long-term future of the Lotte Giants.
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WBN KBO: https://worldbaseball.com/league/south-korea/
Photo Credit: Go Seung-min greeted by teammates. (Namuwiki)
