The San Francisco Giants and center fielder Jung Hoo Lee reached an agreement on Tuesday for a six-year, $113 million deal, as sources informed ESPN. This is the most sum of money for an Asian-born batter entering Major League Baseball and is a crucial addition for a Giants club that has struggled with free agency issues in previous years.
With his father, Jong Beom Lee, considered the finest all-around player in the KBO throughout the 1990s, Lee has been a mainstay in the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) and is treated as a member of the royal family. Known as “Grandson of the Wind” (his father was referred to as “Son of the Wind”), Lee’s guarantee surpasses the $90 million that Masataka Yoshida received from the Boston Red Sox the previous season and comes with an opt-out clause after the fourth season.
The news was initially reported by The New York Post.
Ha-Seong Kim, Lee’s close buddy who plays infield for the San Diego Padres, has been a part of the team for a long time. However, the Giants, who were thought to be long shots for Ohtani, intensified their chase of Lee after Shohei Ohtani signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers this past week. The last two years have seen attempts to recruit big free agents either thwarted (with Aaron Judge) or abandoned (with Carlos Correa agreeing to a 13-year deal with San Francisco only to have it ruined by a botched medical).
Although Lee does not belong in the same league as Ohtani, Judge, or Correa, the left-handed hitter has a career batting average of.340, with a peak of.360 in 2021, and has batted over.300 in every KBO season. He played 86 games in 2023, slashing.318/.406/.455 with six home runs and 45 RBIs, before suffering a damaged left ankle.
After making his professional debut with the Nexen/Kiwoom Heroes in 2017, at the age of 18, he went directly from high school to hit.318 and earn the league’s rookie of the year title. Lee had his greatest season in 2022, when he was named the KBO MVP and hit.349/.421/.575 in 142 games with a career-high 23 home runs and more walks (66) than strikeouts (32).
Lee’s exceptional contact skills ought to facilitate his big league move. In contrast to the MLB average of 22.7% in 2023 and the KBO average of 18.2%, Lee struck out only 5.4% of the time when hitting from an open stance, which is when he initially advances forward with his front foot and then pauses as he starts his swing.
If Lee recovers from his ankle injury without any problems, some evaluators think he has the pace to play a decent center field; others, however, anticipate him as a right fielder, which puts more burden on the bat. Along with his lack of power this season, he also had a ground ball percentage of over 60%, which would put him ahead of Tim Anderson among MLB regulars in 2023.
Nevertheless, the Giants believed that Lee, who is still just 25 years old, had the potential to be an All-Star player. In the best-case scenario, he develops into an above-average OBP hitter and a top-of-the-order batter who bats close to.300. He would rather not experience Kim’s learning curve—the last Korean celebrity to join MLB.
Kim struggled in his Padres debut season of 2021, with an OPS of.622, but over the next two seasons, he improved to.708 and then.749. Kim, Lee’s teammate with the Heroes, had a lifetime batting average of.294 in Korea and hit with greater power than Lee did in the KBO despite having lower hitting averages.
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