2026 KBO Season: Can Na Kyun-an Lead Lotte to Victory with His Stellar 2.28 ERA?

[SPOTV News=Reporter Kim Tae-woo] Lotte has stumbled out of the gate and currently sits in last place, but there’s a clear silver lining: the starting rotation. In a 144-game grind, starters are the backbone, and Lotte’s rotation has shown surprising competitiveness.

Through April 26, Lotte’s starters have combined for a 3.45 ERA — the best mark in the KBO and well below the league average of 4.00. Expectations for rotation improvement existed heading into the season, but few predicted Lotte would lead the league. That the success is being driven by domestic pitchers rather than the expected foreign one-two punch makes it all the more significant.

Kim Jin-wook (2.59 ERA) and Park Se-woong (3.81) have been important, but Na Gyun-an, 28, deserves special mention. Since converting to pitching, Na has become a true workhorse for Lotte and looks like a candidate to inherit the team’s role as the native ace. Through five starts and 27 2/3 innings as of April 26, he’s 0–2 with a 2.28 ERA. His opponent OPS sits at a career-best 0.624.

Na has two quality starts in five outings and hasn’t given up a three-run game yet. His WHIP is a solid 1.16. Recent outings underline his rise: 5 2/3 innings, one run on April 14 vs. LG; seven innings, two runs on April 21 vs. Doosan; and six innings, two runs on April 26 vs. KIA.

Last year, despite some setbacks, Na logged 137 1/3 innings over 28 appearances and posted a 3.87 ERA with a 3–7 record. He’s often been unlucky in the win column, but he’s proven he can eat innings as a reliable starter. He isn’t flashy, but he delivers steady results — and he’s still in his 20s, which gives him notable value in a KBO where dependable domestic starters are scarce.

Lotte may soon face a decision. Under normal circumstances, Na would be eligible for free agency after the 2027 season. He’s already accumulated five seasons of service time (2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2025), and combining 2017 and 2021 completes another season’s worth of registered days. If he finishes this year, he’ll reach seven seasons; one more would make it eight and qualify him for FA.

What Na does over the rest of the season will determine Lotte’s options. If he sustains this form and reliably logs the required innings, the club will have to weigh offering a multi-year extension while he’s still a non-FA. Given how costly starting pitching has become on the open market, Lotte may struggle to keep him if he hits free agency.

Even if Na isn’t considered an elite “S-level” arm, many clubs will pay a reasonable sum to plug a rotation hole, so his price tag could still climb. Teams across the league are desperate for pitchers who can meet innings requirements, and a contender chasing a title could see Na as a fit. Lotte’s current payroll structure also suggests the compensation tier for a player like him might not be top-level, which could work in the team’s favor in trade/compensation scenarios.

Lotte has precedent for signing a core starter to a multi-year non-FA deal. After the 2022 season, the club inked Park Se-woong — then a promising young native ace — to a six-year contract worth 9 billion KRW (6.75 million USD). Park wasn’t the league’s top ERA-wise at the time, but his consistency and ability to eat innings — including 163 innings in 2021 and three straight seasons meeting the innings threshold — earned high marks. The first year of that contract, 2023, was Park’s age-28 season — exactly Na’s current age.

Park arguably carried higher inning and durability value at the time than Na does now, but the FA market has shifted. Inflation in recent years has pushed player prices up, and any player would understandably want to test free agency. How Lotte values Na will determine whether his status becomes a major offseason storyline.