Just Baseball, a U.S. baseball media outlet, had a time on the 6th (Korea time) to select a candidate for the Rookie of the Year among the teams in the Western Division of the National League in the 2024 season. Although it is only an exhibition game, Lee Jung-hoo, who has been hitting hard every day, was naturally named.

After the end of the 2022 season, Lee officially announced his move to the Major League through the “posting system.” He then began the 2023 season, which will boost his reputation. Lee has changed his batting form to produce more long-distance shots so that Major League teams can become more interested in him. He apparently succeeded in making a transformation at the World Baseball Classic, but he rather restrained Lee right after the start of the regular season.

Lee suffered from a rare slump during April last year, with a batting average of only 0.218. By going back to his previous form, Lee successfully revived with a batting average of 0.304 in May and a batting average of 0.374 in June. In July, he recorded a whopping 0.435, showing off his hot batting sense. However, he suffered a sudden ankle injury in the match against the Lotte Giants held at Sajik Stadium. Eventually, Lee failed to display his skills and was put on surgery table in an important season ahead of his advance to the big league.

However, Lee has failed to make any dent in his excellent career so far. Lee has received much attention from numerous Major League teams even though he failed to play a full-time season due to ankle surgery. According to Scott Boras, the “super agent,” and John Hayman of the New York Post, more than half of the teams are interested in Lee. In particular, Lee’s value has risen vertically this winter given that there are not many notable players in the FA (free agent) market.

In particular, the San Francisco Giants, the New York Mets, and the San Diego Padres will compete for Lee Jung-hoo’s future until the end, and the final winner was San Francisco. San Francisco succeeded in capturing Lee Jung-hoo’s heart after offering a six-year, $113 million mega contract, far exceeding the $50 million (about 66.7 billion won) predicted by the U.S. local media. Through this contract, Lee Jung-hoo was immediately crowned the “annual salary king” within the San Francisco squad.

It’s too early to make a conclusion about the regular season, but Lee is adjusting very well to the big league stage. His debut was postponed due to a minor side injury, but Lee Jung-hoo, who made his debut against the Seattle Mariners on April 28, made an impressive mark by scoring one hit and one run from three times at bat. He also proved that he possesses “long-range power” by exploding a double with his first big league home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks on March 1.

It was just the beginning. In a showdown with the Texas Rangers on Tuesday, Lee has been flying high with one hit, one RBI, one walk, multi-base hit, and one hit, one RBI and one walk against the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday. He has six hits, one homer, three RBIs and three runs in five games, with a batting average of 0.462 OPS 1.302. In other words, he is known as “Lee Jung-hoo’s participation = hit.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. baseball magazine Just Baseball mentioned Lee Jung-hoo in the process of selecting the best rookie award candidate among the teams in the National League West. The media said, “The National League West did not produce the best rookie award for six consecutive seasons before Corbin Carroll (Arizona Diamondbacks) was named the best rookie award last year. However, rookies are ready to exert tremendous influence this year.”

“The emphasis is placed on the classes of rookies imported from the Japanese professional baseball and the KBO league,” said Just Baseball. “You may be surprised to know that San Francisco handed Lee a six-year, $113 million contract this offseason, the largest among FA players ever.” Lee was limited to 86 games last year due to an ankle injury, but he had the largest contract as an Asian fielder. Lee won five Golden Gloves in the KBO League and was named MVP in 2022. He hit .349 with 23 home runs and 117 RBIs in the process,” he said.

Media outlets say that Lee will be able to sufficiently compete for the Rookie of the Year award. “The only hitters who moved to the Major League so far are San Diego Padres’ Kim Ha-sung,” said Just Baseball. However, Lee can contribute to offense through various projections. “Lee is a player who is batting .300 with about 10 homers and excellent contact ability with a strikeout rate of less than 10 percent,” Lee said, raising his thumb and predicting that he will compete with Marco Luciano and Kyle Harrison for the Rookie of the Year award.

Sources : totosite(토토사이트)