Seoul: Trying to win for the first time in over two weeks, the Lotte Giants have lost versatile infielder Jeon Min-jae to an oblique injury. Before taking on the LG Twins at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, Giants manager Kim Tae-hyoung announced that Jeon could be out for up to three weeks.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Jeon, 26, joined the Giants in a trade from the Doosan Bears in November last year. He started strong with his new team, leading the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) in batting average in late April before an errant pitch sidelined him briefly. Despite this, he returned to form and batted .388 in May.
However, Jeon's performance dipped, hitting only .210 in June and .111 in July, which affected his playing time. He showed improvement in August with a .267 batting average before his current injury. Jeon has been a key player, mostly at shortstop, but has also played at second and third base.
The Giants are currently struggling, winless in their past 11 games with 10 losses and one tie. Their last victory was on August 6. With an overall record of 58-55-4 (wins-losses-ties), they maintain fourth place but have fallen eight games behind the second-place Hanwha Eagles and are only 1 1/2 games ahead of the Kia Tigers and the KT Wiz, who are tied for fifth.