By Kang Seung-woo
Staff Reporter
Struggling Lee Seung-yeop of the Yomiuri Giants was relegated to the minor league.
According to a Japanese news agency, the defending Central League champions demoted the 32-year-old lefty swinger after he went 0-for-3 and was taken out in the seventh inning of a game against the Yakult Swallows on Sunday. The Giants called up second baseman Luis Gonzalez to take Lee's spot.
Lee, who smacked home runs in the opening games of each of the last two seasons, was mired in an 0-for-15 hitting slump earlier the season. Then after notching a hit on April 8, he was riding a 0-for-16 slide before the demotion.
The South Korean-born batter, who combined for 71 home runs the last two years, has a batting average of .135 with seven hits and no homers this season.
It is the fourth time for the Asian home run record holder to be sent down to the second-tier league during his five-year spell in the Japanese Baseball League.
In his first two seasons with the Chiba Lotte Marlins, he played in the minors once each year, and a finger injury forced him down last year.
Lee will train with Kim Ki-tae, a Giants' second-team coach and former teammate on the Samsung Lions, in the minor league.
``As I am struggling and getting less confident now, I think I had better train in the second-tier league,'' Lee said.
``This is not the end, so I will not be frustrated and will try to rebound.''