The Athletic, a U.S. sports media outlet, was confident that Lee Jung-hoo (26, San Francisco Giants) would make a successful soft landing in the Major League on Tuesday (Korea time). Analysts say that the batting index may not be as noticeable as that of the entire fielders in the Major League, but is heading for an impressive debut season.
Lee has a batting average of 0.262 (38 hits in 145 at-bats), an on-base percentage of 0.310 and a slugging percentage of 0.331 in 36 games this season. The OPS, which combines the on-base percentage and the slugging percentage, is low at 0.641. Considering that he signed a large-scale contract with San Francisco for six years, the deal may fall short of expectations.
MLBcom, the Major League’s website, summarized the most surprising development points of the 30 teams on the day, which, ironically, San Francisco’s poor offense power was cited. This means that the team’s offense has surprisingly gotten worse than last year.
MLB.com reported that San Francisco would have expected its lineup to strengthen as it recruited Lee Jung-hoo, Matt Chapman, and Jorge Soler from the FA market. However, the trio performed below expectations. Lee Jung-hoo (OPS 0.641), Chapman (OPS 0.601), and Soler (0.655) are below the league average at bat. This is the main reason why San Francisco has difficulty consistently scoring scores or creating big innings for the first six weeks after the opening of the regular season.
The Athletic, however, had a different view. Although Lee’s OPS is lower than expected, there is no player to replace him.” This may be comparable to the record of his career as No. 1 in the KBO league with a batting average of 0.340 overall, but he is displaying performance that was expected in his first year in the big league.”
The Athletic said, “I have never felt more confident that a batter with an OPS of 0.640 will rebound.” Lee is not sure whether he will be able to record a batting average of .300 this season, but he will likely be able to achieve his expected batting index of 0.288/on-base percentage of 0.327/long-base percentage of 0.419.” He also boasts solid scope and shoulders as a center fielder. It is also worth noting that the ZiPS (a baseball forecasting system devised by Dan Zimbowski) almost matches the forecasting batting index ahead of the opening of the season. Lee said positively, “It is not a problem but a solution.”
Lee has more than a few issues to deal with, including a new league, pitchers, stadiums, and culture. The KBO League, where Lee played for seven years from 2017 to last year, has a 144-game season system, while the MLB has a 162-game season system. Compared to the KBO league, the number of games is much larger while the number of rest days is smaller. This is why San Francisco Giants manager Bob Melvin said he would fix Lee as the first batter and center fielder before the regular season, but would adjust the playing time well.
In an interview with NBC Sports Bay Area on Tuesday, Lee confessed his difficulties in adapting to the new league. “I feel like top-notch players are all playing in the same league. That’s the biggest difference I can feel right now,” he said. He meant that he is experiencing a higher level of the Major League every day.
“So many things have changed. Food, language, environment, game schedule, everything is really different,” Lee said. “There are many things I need to adapt to outside of the batter’s box.”
Coach Melvin is thoroughly paying attention to ensuring that Lee Jung-hoo, who covers a wide range of defense with center field, does not suffer from physical problems as he enters many at-bats as the first batter. “If you play as a center fielder while standing at a huge number of at-bats as the first batter, you will have to run around a lot. We are trying to ease the burden of Lee Jung-hoo a little bit, but at some points we will push harder,” he said, hoping that Lee Jung-hoo will grow smoothly into a major leaguer and a star that the team expects as he plays his debut season as well as he is now.토토사이트