SSG Landers under investigation for physical abuse incidents involving Futures League players

The KBO on Tuesday said it will open disciplinary proceedings against the SSG Landers after the club reported a number of recent incidences of physical abuse involving its Futures League players.

The KBO on Tuesday said it will open disciplinary proceedings against the SSG Landers after the club reported a number of recent incidences of physical abuse involving its Futures League players.

According to reports, an incident occurred last week where a veteran player disciplined a group of younger players after taking issue with a rookie’s attitude during training on July 6.

Following the incident, one member of the group that was forced to take part in the mass punishment allegedly physically assaulted the rookie with a baseball bat for causing the initial punishment.

A fourth player then heard about the baseball bat assault and disciplined the entire group of younger players again as punishment for the second transgression.

According to the JoongAng Ilbo, the Landers only learned about the incident when a coach checked the rookie’s physical condition the following day. The team immediately reported the incident to the KBO’s Clean Baseball Center on Sunday after interviewing the players involved.

"We would like to apologize for this unsavory incident," the Landers said in a statement reported by Yonhap. "As soon as we learned of the case, we separated the perpetrators and the victims. The offending players will be kept out of all team activities.

“We're fully cooperating with the KBO's investigation, and we will accept the findings of the disciplinary committee."

This is not the first incident linked to the Landers’ Futures League team. Four members of the team were penalized in 2020, when the club was owned by SK and called the SK Wyverns, for assaulting teammates and driving under the influence.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]