The long-awaited matchup against the hometown team has finally been realized. Can Kim Min-seok (Doosan Bears) shake off his poor season batting average in the 10% range against his former teammates?

The professional baseball Doosan Bears are set to play their fourth matchup of the season against the Lotte Giants in the 2025 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League at Seoul's Jamsil Stadium on the 25th. This is the opening game of the weekend series.

The winner of the first matchup held from the 4th to the 6th at Sajik was Doosan. After dominating the first game with a 15-3 victory, they lost on the 5th with a score of 1-6, but on the 6th, they rallied by scoring 7 runs in the 8th inning while trailing 7-12, completing the final 15-12 Sajik triumph.

The reason this matchup between the two teams is particularly drawing attention is that they heated up the baseball world with what is known as a mega trade during the stove league. In November of last year, Lotte, wanting Jeong Cheol-won from Doosan, proposed the trade first. Meanwhile, Doosan, which desperately needed to replenish its young outfield, mentioned Kim Min-seok and Choo Jae-hyun, leading to the mega trade where Jeong Cheol-won and Jeon Min-jae moved to Lotte, and Kim Min-seok, Choo Jae-hyun, and Choi Woo-in donned the Doosan uniforms.

Among the five players, three are currently on the first team roster. Initially, Kim Min-seok and Jeong Cheol-won were evaluated as the main chips in the trade, but upon assessing their performance, Jeon Min-jae, who had been a perennial backup infielder during his time at Doosan, is now batting .400 (32 hits in 80 at-bats) with 1 home run, 8 RBIs, and 12 runs scored in 26 games, swinging a hot bat. He ranks first in the batting sector and is the only player in the league maintaining a batting average over .400.

Currently, Jeong Cheol-won and Kim Min-seok, who made a strong impact at the beginning of the season, have somewhat slowed down. Jeong Cheol-won has a record of 2 wins, 1 loss, 8 holds, and an earned run average of 6.08 over 15 games, while Kim Min-seok is batting .186 with 3 RBIs and 3 runs scored over 13 games, holding an OPS of .478.

In the case of Kim Min-seok, he was unable to participate in the first mega trade derby due to a period of reconditioning from the 3rd to the 19th in Icheon. During spring training, he expressed, "I think I'll have a stronger desire to perform well against the hometown team. I want to definitely get a hit." He also engaged in light banter with Jeong Cheol-won, who commented, "I hope Lotte is above Doosan," to which Min-seok replied, "Conversely, I think Doosan might be above Lotte in the rankings." However, his travel for the Sajik away game fell through, and their first meeting wasn’t realized until the end of April.

Choo Jae-hyun, who batted .500 with 5 hits in 10 at-bats against his former team and struck a blow against them, will not participate in this series. He suffered a back injury while playing defense in the outfield during the match against the LG Twins on the 12th and is currently rehabilitating after being removed from the first team roster on the 13th. Choi Woo-in has recorded an earned run average of 12.00 across 2 games in the Futures League, and that is his only performance.

Doosan has announced its starting ace, Choi Won-jun, in hopes of gaining an early advantage in the series. Choi Won-jun's season record is 5 games without a win, 2 losses, and an earned run average of 4.56. In his most recent appearance against the KIA Tigers at Jamsil on the 19th, he struggled, allowing 4 runs (3 earned) in 4 innings, resulting in a loss. He has a bitter memory of suffering defeat after allowing 4 runs in 4⅔ innings against Lotte on the 5th in Sajik.

In response, Lotte is countering with foreign pitcher Tucker Davidson. Davidson has a season record of 2 wins, 0 losses, and an earned run average of 2.00 over 5 games, and in his most recent outing on the 18th against the Samsung Lions in Daegu, he became the winning pitcher after throwing 5 scoreless innings. He is currently on a hot streak with 2 consecutive wins and no runs allowed. However, he faced Doosan on the 6th in Sajik, where he was early pulled after allowing 3 runs in 2⅔ innings.

Lotte has a season record of 14 wins, 1 draw, and 12 losses, placing them tied for 3rd, while Doosan has 11 wins and 14 losses, sitting tied for 7th. The gap between the two teams is 2.5 games.

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