Lee Jung-hoo Bae Ji-hwan, the 26-member opening roster, is on board! LEE No. 3 center field, BAE backup outfielder on standby
Mar 27, 2025
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San Francisco Giants Lee Jung-hoo and Pittsburgh Pirates Bae Ji-hwan were listed on the opening roster of 26 members of each club on the 27th (Korea time). Lee Jung-hoo is the second consecutive year since his Major League debut last year, and Bae Ji-hwan is the second after 2023.
Lee Jung-hoo suffered a shoulder injury in May last year, underwent surgery and ended the season early, then proceeded smoothly with rehabilitation and performed spring training normally. Ahead of the game against the Seattle Mariners on the 16th, he was worried that he was quickly excluded from the lineup due to back pain, but the MRI examination did not show any abnormalities, so he played in consecutive exhibition games against the Detroit Tigers on the 25th and 26th and played all the offense and defense.
He will start in center field at 5:10 a.m. on the 28th against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. Lee Jung-hoo moved his batting order to No. 3 in last year's leadoff.
Here's a 26-man roster of San Francisco.
▶ Pitchers (13) = Jordan Hicks, Robbie Ray, Landon Loop, Justin Verlander, Logan Webb (both starts), Hayden Birdsong, Spencer Vivens, Camilo Doval, Eric Miller, Randy Rodriguez, Tyler Rogers, Lou Trivino, Ryan Walker
▶Capture (2) = Patrick Bailey, Sam Huff
▶Fielders (7 players) = Willie Adames, Matt Chapman, Tyler Fitzgerald, Wilmer Flores, Christian Koss, Casey Schmidt, Ramond Wade Jr
▶Outfielder(4) = Lee Jung-hoo, Luis Matos, Eliot Ramos, Mike Yastremski
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Ji-hwan appeared in 111 games as second baseman and center fielder in 2023, hitting .231, two homers, 32 RBIs, 54 runs, and 24 steals, showing the possibility of taking the lead, but he failed to continue his growth as he spent last year in the minor leagues due to injuries and sluggishness.
However, he has another chance this season. This is because he showed a different batting performance in the exhibition game. In 20 games, he marked a batting average of 0.381 (16 hits in 42 at-bats), one home run, four RBIs, 13 points, three walks, nine strikeouts, three steals, an on-base percentage of 0.422 and a slugging percentage of 0.595 and an OPS of 1.017. He ranked first in batting average, hits, and runs scored in the team.
It is difficult to give much meaning to the exhibition game record itself, but Bae Ji-hwan has achieved his best batting performance since participating in the Major League exhibition game in 2018. He hit his first career home run in the exhibition game, and all categories, including hits, RBIs and runs, hit a career high.
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It is shown in the strikeout rate that Bae Ji-hwan showed an upgraded batting performance to the extent that he was considered a career high in this exhibition game. He entered 45 at-bats, walked four, and struck out only nine times. The strikeout rate is 20.0 percent. The figure is significantly lower than 24.9 percent in 2023 and 29.6 percent last year based on the regular season.
Bae Ji-hwan has been criticized for striking out many fast-footed batters. It is said that there were many cases where the bat was put out to the manned port.
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Therefore, Bae Ji-hwan's role can be seen as a pinch hitter in the second half of the game depending on the situation with Swinsky. Both are left-handed hitters, but strong Bae Ji-hwan is expected to be more useful to left-handed pitchers. Of course, if any of the left fielder Pam, center fielder O'Neill, or right fielder Reynolds, who were selected as the main players, are excluded, the possibility of Bae Ji-hwan starting is always open. By the way, McCutchen is the designated hitter.
Pittsburgh's opening roster is as follows.
▶Pitchers (13) = Paul Skins, Mitch Keller, Bailey Poulter, Andrew Heaney, Carmen Mozinski (above), David Bedna, Colin Holderman, Dennis Santana, Justin Lawrence, Joey Wentz, Tim Meijah, Caleb Ferguson, Ryan Borucki
▶Capture (2 persons) =Joy Bart, Endi Rodriguez
▶Fielders (5 persons) = Adam Frazier, Jared Triolo, Kibrian Hayes, Nick Gonzalez, Isaiah Kiner-Falefa
▶Outfielder (6) = Brian Reynolds, Tommy Pham, O'Neill Cruz, Andrew McCutchen (designated hitter), Bae Ji-hwan, Jack Swinsky
Pittsburgh will start its 162-game road trip against the Miami Marlins at Rondipo Park on the 28th.
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This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
