Lotte Giants rookie pitcher Jeon Mir (19) has received a vaccination shot. Jeon took the mound in the fifth inning against the Hanwha Eagles at the “2024 KBO League Exhibition Game” held at Sajik Stadium in Busan on Wednesday, and allowed two hits, two outs and four runs in the ⅓ innings. Jeon had a lonely battle on the mound due to his poor ball control, and was forced to leave the mound after just one out count.
Jeon took the mound in the fifth inning with runners on the first and third bases with one out when his team was losing 2-8, and threw a wild pitch when Hwang was at the batter’s box, giving up the home run to the third baseman. He then got an RBI double by Hwang. He allowed Kim In-hwan to sacrifice fly to the center field and Lim Jong-chan to hit an RBI double. After struggling throughout the game, Jeon gave up a walk to Lee Jin-young and handed the ball over to Kim Jin-wook.
Kim Tae-hyung told reporters ahead of the exhibition game against the KT Wiz at KT Wiz Park in Suwon on Wednesday, “I saw him during a spring camp practice game in Okinawa, Japan. When Jeon is not good at control, he should try to set the count faster. He should be more aggressive.” He defended Jeon by saying, “But it doesn’t work as I want. I need to gain experience.”
Jeon Mi-ra was the first player who lost a point in an exhibition game. In all of the previous games, he blocked innings by allowing no runs. In the game against SSG Landers on Thursday last week, he allowed one hit, one walk and no run, and in the game against Doosan Bears on Sunday last week, he allowed two hits, no outs, and three strikeouts in the first inning. In the game against Samsung Lions on Tuesday last week, he allowed two hits, no outs, and one strikeout in the first ⅔. Although Jeon was in crisis, he managed to take the mound without losing a point. However, Hanwha’s batters failed to block his fiery performance.
Jeon graduated from Kyungpook National High School and joined the Lotte Giants as the third overall pick in the first round in the 2024 rookie draft. As Jeon also served as pitcher and batter in high school, he gained attention as a “high school baseball player Ohtani.” Both pitchers and batters performed well. He pitched in 67 ⅔ innings in 14 games as a pitcher in last year’s high school baseball, and posted five wins, one loss and an ERA of 1.32. As a batter, he posted a batting average of 0.346 with three homers and 32 RBIs in 27 games.
Since joining the Lotte Giants, Jeon has been focusing only on pitchers. Jeon had hoped to join as a pitcher as well, but manager Kim Tae-hyung paid attention to Jeon’s chances of success. In particular, Jeon highly appreciated his temperament in fighting against batters on the mound. At the spring camp, he was well received by coaching staff including Kim Tae-hyung.
It is not easy for a rookie who has just joined a professional league to stand out from the debut season. Jeon will definitely suffer from growing pains. However, as coach Kim Tae-hyung said, if Jeon gets more experience, he has potential to fully develop. Attention is focusing on how Jeon will be able to perform in the future.