Lotte Giants lower Sajik Baseball Stadium fence

[Anchor]

The Lotte Giants of professional baseball have decided to lower the outfield fence at their home stadium, Sajik Baseball Stadium, back to its original height of 6 meters after three years.

Considering the team's characteristics, the struggles of the clubs to maximize their performance are evident.

This is reporter Lee Mu-hyung.

[Report]

The outfield wall of Sajik Baseball Stadium, notorious among batters, was so high that players participating in the home run derby were left in awe.

[Commentary/Last year's All-Star Game: "(There, it's going straight!) It keeps going. But the wall, it hits and falls. Wow, it couldn't clear the 'Seong Wall.')"]

The 6-meter high wall that made Sajik Stadium a pitcher-friendly park is being lowered again.

Lotte is in the process of removing the auxiliary outfield fence installed during the tenure of former general manager Seong Min-gyu in 2022, returning the wall height to the original 4.8 meters.

[Choi Woo-min/Lotte PR Team Leader: "Due to the high wall, there were many obstructions to the view of fans in the outfield stands, so we decided to proceed with the construction for improvement."]

The restoration of the wall also reflects the changed team dynamics.

During the period of the so-called 'Seong Wall,' Lotte improved its home run margin at home, but it did not lead to fundamental improvements on the mound or an increase in rankings.

Instead of a pitcher-centric environment that has shown no effect for three years, the team aims to leverage the strengths of batters like Son Ho-young and Yoon Dong-hee, who have grown this season, in a bid to challenge for postseason play for the first time in eight years.

LG also operated a temporary fence known as the 'X-Zone' during the tenure of manager Kim Jae-bak in 2009 to compensate for a lack of power hitting at their home games in Jamsil.

Attention is focused on whether the changed stadium environment will affect Lotte's performance and the landscape of professional baseball next year.

This is KBS News, Lee Mu-hyung.