The headshot injury still left some lingering effects. However, he showed no signs of such performance in the game. Lotte Giants' "luckyard" Jeon Min-jae (26) is displaying strong batting performance after his return.메이저놀이터
Jeon Min-jae started as the fifth batter and shortstop in the regular season home game of the 2025 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League against the Samsung Lions at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on the 18th. It was his first time in the starting lineup since his debut in 2018.
Jeon, who grounded out to the infield grounder in the second and fourth innings respectively, showed off his clean-up performance at the third opportunity. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Lotte made a living thanks to Jang Doo-sung's hit to the right, and Ko Seung-min's hit to the right gave the team a chance. The following two hitters stepped down as miscues, but the second and third bases with two outs continued.
Here, Jeon hit a low slider from Yang Chang-seop, Samsung's second pitcher, with the ball count 2-2. The homer became a three-run homerun that hit directly into the stands on the left field. The flying distance of the homerun and the speed of the homerun reached up to 154.5 kilometers. It was also the first time that Jeon hit a homerun at Sajik Baseball Stadium. His homerun widened the score to 5-0.
In two doubleheader games against Samsung held on Saturday, Jeon had three hits and three RBIs from six times at bat, raising his morale. On top of that, Jeon demonstrated his sense of play as well as his cannonballs. In 33 games, he posted a batting average of 0.392 (40 hits from 102 times at bat), two homers, 16 RBIs and 17 runs scored, one stolen base, and an on-base percentage of 0.427 with a 0.520 slugging percentage and an OPS of 0.947.
What was more surprising was that even though there was a gap of more than 15 days due to the injury, the pace did not drop. Jeon Min-jae was absent from the game when he was hit by Yang Ji-yul's fastball in the top of the seventh inning against Kiwoom in Gocheok on the 29th of last month. Hospital examinations showed no cornea or retina abnormalities, and he was excluded from the first-team entry after being diagnosed that he needed stability due to bleeding in his right eye.
After playing in two Futures League matches, Jeon was called up to the first team ahead of a game on Wednesday. As soon as he came up, he showed good batting performance and proved his value.
After the match on Wednesday, Jeon said, "I'm almost back. If it's windy, the dryness gets worse, so I put on sunglasses and artificial tears to block it." He is showing off his sense of recovery despite the inconvenience. "I played in the second division, but I was worried because the first division was different. I was worried if there was any trauma, but I don't think there was any."
Regarding his home run situation, he said, "Yesterday (17th), Yang Chang-seop hit a fastball with two strikes, and since he thought he would not give a fastball today, he focused on hitting the slider. I wanted to hit a home run at my job. I felt special because I was in an important situation in front of my home fan."
When Jeon hit a home run, Lotte manager Kim Tae-hyung was seen smiling brightly on the broadcast screen. After seeing this scene belatedly, Jeon said, "I just gave high-fives."
Despite his outstanding performance this season, Jeon Min-jae confessed, "If I think about that, I think I'll be on a downward trend." "I'm only watching today and tomorrow right now, so if I do that, the result will be okay at the end," he said.