“Now it implies that good luck is on the way”
Lee Jung-hoo of the San Francisco Giants started the 2024 Major League home showdown with the Washington Nationals at Oracle Park in San Francisco, California, on the 9th (Korea time), and succeeded in raising his batting average from 0.205 to 0.238 by showing impressive performance with two hits, one walk and one run from three times at bat.
Lee Jung-hoo, who won five hits and a regular season MVP title at the Kiwoom Heroes in the 2022 season, declared his entry into the Major League in the winter of that year. And Lee raised expectations by joining hands with Scott Boras, dubbed the “devil” by Major League Baseball clubs. Lee missed the 2023 season, which was a golden opportunity to raise his ransom, due to ankle surgery, but his years-long career and performance in international competitions were enough to make Lee value.
According to Boras, Lee received keen attention from more than half of the clubs immediately after the start of the Major League Stove League. As John Heyman reported at the time, Boras’ comment was by no means a bluff. It was no exaggeration to say that most teams that needed left-handed hitters and outfielders considered recruiting Lee despite their lack of experience in the big leagues. As a result, Lee clinched a huge six-year contract worth 113 million U.S. dollars with San Francisco.
When Lee was posted, local media in the U.S. estimated that Lee Jung-hoo would be worth around 50 million U.S. dollars, but San Francisco, which had never given more than 100 million dollars to a fielder’s player except Buster Posey, invested much more than that. Expectations were high, indicating that the team had high expectations. As a result, multiple local media outlets began discussing San Francisco’s “panic bye” and “overpay” right after the signing of Shohei Ohtani.
However, all of these disgraced modifiers disappeared after the exhibition games began. Although Lee’s debut in the exhibition game was delayed due to a minor side injury, Lee produced a hit in the first game, and then hit a home run in just two games against the Arizona Diamondbacks, leaving him with a remarkable performance of 12 hits, one home run, five RBIs, six runs scored, two steals, and a batting average of 0.343 OPS of 0.911. As a result, people began to praise Lee and raise expectations rather than concerns. 노래방알바
Obviously, the mood was good after the regular season began. Lee produced his first hit and RBI in the opener against the San Diego Padres in the U.S. mainland, and continued his good trend by getting multi-hit and RBI the next day. In addition, he had his first homerun in his third showdown with San Diego, posting a record of 0.2866 OPS 0.868 in four consecutive games with four hits, one homerun and four RBIs. He also had a multi-hit against the Los Angeles Dodgers on the 2nd and had consecutive hits the next day.