Shocking! It's number 7 again? SF Lee Jung-hoo, who collapsed by .25 batting average, was demoted 7 times against Chicago W. It's a disgrace if you're pushed even further

Jun 29, 2025

Shocking! It's number 7 again? SF Lee Jung-hoo, who collapsed by .25 batting average, was demoted 7 times against Chicago W. It's a disgrace if you're pushed even further



Shocking! It's number 7 again? SF Lee Jung-hoo, who collapsed by .25 batting average, was demoted 7 times against Chicago W. It's a disgrace if you're pushed even further
'Is this going to be fixed in the lower order of built-in batting order?'

The batting order is falling as much as the batting average is falling. The downfall of Lee Jung-hoo (27), who was considered the `San Francisco Giants' new vitality' until two months ago, continues endlessly. In the end, even the support line of '2500' was broken. Then, the batting order went down one more step. Lee Jung-hoo will go to the seventh batting order for the second time this season.

Lee Jung-hoo was expected to be selected as the seventh center fielder in an away game against the Chicago White Sox in the 2025 Major League Baseball (MLB) at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago, Illinois. It is the second time this season that Lee Jung-hoo will start as the seventh batter since the home game against the Cleveland Guardians on the 20th.




San Francisco's lineup was formed in the order of Christian Kos (third base), Rafael Devers (DH), Eliot Ramos (left fielder), Dominic Smith (first baseman), Willie Adames (striker), Mike Yastremski (right fielder), Lee Jung-hoo (center fielder), Andrew Kisner (catcher), and Brett Weasley (second baseman).

Shocking! It's number 7 again? SF Lee Jung-hoo, who collapsed by .25 batting average, was demoted 7 times against Chicago W. It's a disgrace if you're pushed even further
Lee Jung-hoo started in center field as No. 6 against the White Sox the previous day. It was his fifth home game against the Miami Marlins two days ago. The batting order went down one by one every day. It is a batting adjustment that contains San Francisco coach Bob Melvin's intention to revive Lee Jung-hoo's falling batting sense somehow.

Coach Melvin is implementing a huge number of batting order changes for Lee Jung-hoo this year. He was the third hitter for a while since the opening game. This was when Lee Jung-hoo showed a strong sense of hitting. Then, he was also put in as the fourth batter and moved to No. 5, No. 1 and No. 2 in succession.




Then, when Lee Jung-hoo fell into a batting slump from early May, he tried to relieve the burden by putting him in the bottom five to seven batting order. This is because Lee Jung-hoo's revival is expected to soon lead to the recovery of the overall batting lineup and team scoring ability.

Shocking! It's number 7 again? SF Lee Jung-hoo, who collapsed by .25 batting average, was demoted 7 times against Chicago W. It's a disgrace if you're pushed even further
However, so far, it is only 'for nothing'. Lee Jung-hoo is not playing regardless of his batting order. In the game against Chicago on the 28th, he had no hits in four times at bat, eventually collapsing his .25 batting average. Lee Jung-hoo's batting average for the season fell to 0.248 (74 hits in 98 at-bats), and his OPS also fell to 0.724.

In the U.S., Lee Jung-hoo's slump is considered to be 'temporary'. The Athletic said on the 26th that `Lee Jung-hoo's poor performance is a curse of batting average-dependent hitters. Lee Jung-hoo has fully watched that he is not a batter who produces a lot of home runs or walks. Sometimes hits come out, and sometimes they won't. Still, his expected batting average is still good, and defense and baserunning are good enough to give positive value even in the midst of a slump,' he reported.




However, this analysis shows no signs of continuing to improve. Records show that compared to April, when the batting was in full swing, the quality and direction of the hit have also deteriorated.

Shocking! It's number 7 again? SF Lee Jung-hoo, who collapsed by .25 batting average, was demoted 7 times against Chicago W. It's a disgrace if you're pushed even further
When Lee Jung-hoo entered the batter's box in the top of the fourth inning, White Sox third baseman Josh Rojas was shifting on the grass in front of the 2-3rd base line and caught and handled when a ground ball came out. Photo = MLB.TV Capture
Above all, there was even evidence that the opposing team was clearly aware of Lee Jung-hoo's weaknesses. In the game against the White Sox on the 28th, 'Lee Jung-hoo Shift' appeared.

Lee Jung-hoo came out as the leadoff hitter in the top of the fourth inning when the score was 1-1. At the ball count of 1B1S, he missed the high cutter (88 miles) thrown by opposing starter Aaron Civale. A situation where the check swing hits the ball. The batting was too slow. It was only 61 miles. Considering Lee Jung-hoo's fast feet, it could have been a lucky missed infield hit.

However, opposing third baseman Josh Rojas was defending forward to the infield turf in front of 2-3 bases as if he had foreseen this situation. In the end, Lee Jung-hoo was thrown out of the first base in vain. It means that the opponent was already fully prepared for Lee Jung-hoo's batting condition and direction. If microscopic analysis comes out like this, it is not easier to escape the slump.

Lee Jung-hoo has only hit 0.091 (2 hits in 22 at-bats) in the last seven games. If this slump continues, maintaining 20% could also be threatened. Attention is focusing on whether '7th batting order' can be the key to escaping Lee Jung-hoo's slump.



Reporter Lee Won-man wman@sportschosun.com



This article was translated by Naver AI translator.