46 in 2001 → 7 last year, this rare species is Lee Jung-hoo? If you look at a batter who only hits a single, Osan's slugging power is highlighted

Apr 24, 2025

46 in 2001 → 7 last year, this rare species is Lee Jung-hoo? If you look at a batter who only hits a single, Osan's slugging power is highlighted
Lee Jung-hoo of the San Francisco Giants is batting .315 as of the 23rd (Korea time). ImagesYonhap News



46 in 2001 → 7 last year, this rare species is Lee Jung-hoo? If you look at a batter who only hits a single, Osan's slugging power is highlighted
Lee Jung-hoo is welcomed by his teammates after scoring in the eighth inning against Milwaukee on the 23rd (Korea time). AFP Yonhap News
San Francisco Giants Lee Jung-hoo is pointed out as a player who can maintain a batting average of around 300 because of his contact ability.

As of the 23rd (Korea time), Lee Jung-hoo is included in the top 6% of the swing rate (14.4%) and the top 11% of the static hit rate (32.5%). In other words, the ability to guess is at the top of the list.

As of today, 33 out of 176 hitters have passed the regulation's batting average. Of course, as the season goes on, this number may decrease and fall below 10 on the last day. It is also true that Lee Jung-hoo, who has a batting average of 0.315 (28 hits in 89 at-bats), is likely to fall below .300 in the end.




46 in 2001 → 7 last year, this rare species is Lee Jung-hoo? If you look at a batter who only hits a single, Osan's slugging power is highlighted
San Francisco Giants Lee Jung-hoo is expected to end the season with a batting average of .300 this season. AP Yonhap News
46 in 2001 → 7 last year, this rare species is Lee Jung-hoo? If you look at a batter who only hits a single, Osan's slugging power is highlighted
Lee Jung-hoo, who is hitting home after walking on base in the eighth inning against Milwaukee on the 23rd (Korea time). AP Yonhap News
However, it was predicted that Lee Jung-hoo would maintain a batting average of .300 until the final day of the regular season.

MLB.com included Lee Jung-hoo in an article titled `6 very interesting hitters who can hit .300 this year.' Reporter Will Leitch, who wrote the article, cited Aaron Judge, Paul Goldschmidt, Athletics Jacob Wilson, Boston Red Sox Trevor Story, Cleveland Guardians Stephen Kwan, and Lee Jung-hoo as the candidates for 30%.

All of them have a batting average of around 300 at the beginning of the season, and their overall batting average is less than 300. That's why I used the expression 'Very interesting'.




These days, when home runs are the best virtue, it may be sullen to think, `Why is a batting average of 30% so great?', but it is true that it is difficult to see a hitter with a batting average of 30% recently. In 2001, Ichiro Suzuki made his major league debut and won the MVP and Rookie of the Year award, there were as many as 46 hitters. But in recent trends, the number has drastically decreased to 14 in 2021, 11 in 2022, nine in 2023, and seven last year. With the development of pitching technology and the rise of long balls rather than small balls, the era of 300,000 hitters 'rare species' has arrived.

Lee Jung-hoo posted a career high of 0.340 batting average during his KBO career and 0.360 in 2021. The total number of hits in the seven seasons is 1,181. In his major league debut last year, he suffered a shoulder injury in May, finishing the season with a .262 mark in 37 games.

As a result, fan graphs, which specialize in statistics last offseason, predicted Lee Jung-hoo's batting average of 0.284 and 0.288 through prediction systems ZiPS and Steamer, respectively. It is somewhat far from the .300 mark and not close to the batting king. However, local experts who watched Lee Jung-hoo's batting early this season do not hesitate to consider him as the NL batting champion and MVP candidate.




46 in 2001 → 7 last year, this rare species is Lee Jung-hoo? If you look at a batter who only hits a single, Osan's slugging power is highlighted
San Francisco Giants Lee Jung-hoo and Matt Chapman. AFP Yonhap News
46 in 2001 → 7 last year, this rare species is Lee Jung-hoo? If you look at a batter who only hits a single, Osan's slugging power is highlighted
Lee Jung-hoo is celebrating after hitting a timely triple in the bottom of the seventh inning against Milwaukee on the 22nd (Korea time). AFP Yonhap News
Reporter Leitch might have thought the Giants secured a singles hitter who roamed the base by stealing when recruiting Lee Jung-hoo, a former KBO MVP, last year, but he was out three times by trying to steal five times and ended the season with a batting average of 0.262 in 37 games due to a shoulder injury. It was not an ideal settlement into the Major League, he said. "As a result, most people forgot about Lee Jung-hoo's existence, and Lee Jung-hoo's performance is very interesting for the Giants, who are considered the most amazing team in all major league teams this season."

It emphasized that San Francisco, with Lee Jung-hoo at the forefront, has established itself as a 'strong' not only in the NL West but also in the overall game. As of today, San Francisco is ranked third in the NL West with 15 wins and 9 losses and fourth overall.

Lee Jung-hoo was sluggish with two hits in 17 at-bats in the last four games because he couldn't get a hit in the home game against the Milwaukee Brewers, but he is still considered the most notable hitter in the NL. bWAR (1.4) is tied for fifth in NL, and fWAR (1.3) is seventh. He has three home runs, 15 RBIs, 20 points, and an OPS of 0.947, and among many statistics, the most notable indicator is his slugging power.

Reporter Leitch said, `The most surprising thing about Lee Jung-hoo's performance so far is that he is not just hitting for batting average, but is also performing power heating at the same time.'Bob Melvin Zeitz is strongly pushing Lee Jung-hoo to be the third hitter, not the table setter. It is only natural that he won the MVP award (in Korea) with speed, contact and hitting that floats more balls than people think. He once recorded a batting average of 0.360 in Korea.



This article was translated by Naver AI translator.