Among overseas players who have advanced to the Major League, two players have signed pre-agent contracts as top hitters.
They are Texas Rangers Choo Shin-soo (41) and SF Giants Lee Jung-hoo (25).
Choo, who failed to sign a long-term contract with the Cleveland Indians, was traded to the Cincinnati Reds in December 2012. Under veteran manager Dusty Baker, Choo had the best year of his career.
Among 155 games, he played 99 games as a top hitter at the table setter. He had a batting average of 0.310-12 Home Runs -42 RBIs -68 runs -13 stolen bases, and an OPS of 0.881. In the batting order of the third batter with 41 games, he had a batting average of 0.227 and an OPS of 0.677, which was different from those of the table setter.월카지노
It has established itself as a top-class table setter in the Major League in the 2013 season. He had a batting average of 0.285-21 home runs – 54 RBIs – 107 runs – 20 steals, and an OPS of 0.885. Lee’s contribution to Lee’s victory was 4.6. The average OPS for MLB in 2013 was only 0.714.
Choo signed a seven-year, 130-million-dollar contract with the Texas Rangers, which desperately needs a top hitter after the season. An annual salary of 18.57 million dollars. After signing the FA contract, he was embroiled in several trade rumors due to his lack of role as a table setter, but left the MLB stage after finishing his seven-year contract in Texas. He is undoubtedly the best fielder that Korea has ever produced.
Lee Jung-hoo was also recruited by the Giants as a top hitter. It has been six years and $113 million, the second highest ever overseas player. His annual salary is 18.83 million dollars, which is higher than that of Choo Shin-soo.
The Giants invested a large amount of money in appreciation of the 2022 KBO League MVP and career record. The most home runs in a season are 23 in 2022, but the OPS is very high due to its high on-base percentage. In 2022, it is 0.996 and 0.898 in total. The Giants’ 2023 season team OPS is 0.695, ranking low in the MLB tied for 26th.
MLB also considers batting average but evaluates OPS as a more important record. The KBO League still focuses on batting average. After all, it is because on-base = runs, which is the basis of baseball, and long hits = RBIs. In particular, MLB produces very few batters in the 30s as pitchers’ pitches get faster and breaking balls evolve more powerfully.
Only nine hitters have hit .300 in the 2023 season. If top hitter Lee Jung-hoo hits .300 in the first year of his debut in 2024, he will be selected as an All-Star. Of the nine hitters who hit .300 last year, only Cody Bellingen against the Chicago Cubs was not selected as an All-Star. He performed poorly in the first half.
Choo has had an OPS of 0.792 for Texas seven years, less than his MLB career record of 0.824. However, he scored more than 90 points on three occasions. Although his performance fell short of his high annual salary, he ended up with a table setter above the MLB average.
For Lee, 90 points in this season is a success. He is less mobile than Choo. The key is to reach the runner scoring position with a double and a triple as a mid-range batter characteristic. During the seven seasons of the KBO, he ranked first in this season with three doubles and three triples each.