San Francisco, which had high expectations as its biggest off-season player in the 2023-2024 Major League, does not have many items for sale in its shopping cart. It has been linked to numerous big fish, but it is not worth saving. Ironically, expectations are growing for Lee Jung-hoo, the biggest off-season contract for the team. All media outlets have said Lee Jung-hoo and Lee Jung-hoo.꽁머니지급
San Francisco is not very baseball-friendly. Nevertheless, its offense index fell to the lowest level in the National League last year, and its team’s winning rate fell below 50 percent. There are reasons why the team was linked to many of its best players in the field ahead of the offseason. Lee will be selected as the right person to deal with his team’s problems such as batting average, on-base percentage and defense in center field. After competing with San Diego and the New York Yankees, he offered a total of 113 million U.S. dollars for six years, and eventually made Lee join the team.
Lee said, “Everything is unfamiliar to me. However, once I join the team, I have one familiar face. It is Matt Williams who served as Kia’s manager in 2020 and 2021. Williams is a member of the representative Bob Melvin division. Prior to joining the Kia Tigers, I had dinner with Melvin in Oakland, and after returning to the U.S., I assisted him in San Diego. When Melvin moved to San Francisco ahead of this season, Williams followed suit.
With his two years of experience in the KBO League, Williams is well aware of how scary a batter Lee Jung-hoo is. Williams has illustrious career as a coach, but most of all, he was a slugger who hit 378 home runs in the Major League. He has an eye for batters. Even Williams praised Lee as a player who can do everything.
Coach Williams, who made his major league debut in San Francisco and played for 10 years, did not hide his expectation in an interview with the North American sports media The Athletic on the 8th (Korea time) that Lee Jung-hoo is definitely a player who will help the team. Coach Williams praised Lee Jung-hoo, saying, “Because there are only 10 teams in the (KBO) league, I had the opportunity to play a lot of games (with Keum). Lee Jung-hoo is really, really good. He is one of the players who makes me think, ‘Wow, he can do everything.'”
“He is a good defender, and the best hitter in the league. There are also intangible aspects to it. He is a good runner. He understands the game. When I looked at the opponent’s dugout, he seemed to be a good teammate, helping everyone, and willing to cheer,” Lee said, stressing that Lee is not just a good hitter. He also has good defense and leadership to lead teammates.
As for his batting skills, he evaluated that he has a high batting average as well as an on-base percentage. Williams said, “There are a few things I look at him. What does he do when he’s not holding the bat in his hand? How can he affect the game? You can hit it in the batter’s box and that’s great, but what happens when you get on base? That’s probably one of his best qualities. He understands the game and likes to play,” he said, vowing that he would have more than just a batting average.
Williams said, “I really enjoyed my experience of Korean culture from there. I respect the game, I respect the teachers and coaches, I play hard, and I have a lot of fun. Lee will bring all of that.”
Andrew Baggler, a San Francisco reporter for The Athletic and a prominent reporter who has covered San Francisco for more than 20 years, also wrote in his column, “It’s not surprising that San Francisco was attracted to Lee Jung-hoo, who is widely known as the best player in Korea. He has desirable skills and is unusually young for a free agent. His athleticism can work well in center field and batting order. He has more walks than strikeouts and rarely strikes out.”
“San Francisco’s internal projections have been favorable to Lee’s potential influence. The most frequently cited public projection systems have been found to agree,” Baghouly said, noting that most of the projections predict that Lee will have a high batting average and a low swing and miss ratio. “Lee’s expected contribution to victory (WAR) is between 2.5 and 3.5. Even if Lee finishes the season in the lowest range, he will be able to outpace San Francisco’s most valuable fielder Wilmer Flores (WAR 2.7) last year,” Baghouly said, inflating expectations.