On the 20th, MLB.com, the official major league site, highlighted Lee Jung-hoo’s declaration of overseas expansion with an article titled, “The KBO league star will shake up the (big league) free agent (FA) market next year.” MLB.com said, “Next year, Shohei Ohtani (28, LA Angels), Manny Machado (30, San Diego), Raphael Devers (26, Boston Red Sox), as well as KBO league superstar Lee Jung-hoo, will appear in the free agent market next year.” .
The day before, Lee Jung-hoo visited the office of his team, Kiwoom, and officially conveyed his intention to challenge the overseas stage. Lee Jung-hoo, who is in his 7th year as a professional next year, can advance to the MLB through the posting system (private competitive bidding) after the season if he digests the 2023 season normally, Depending on the number of FA compensation days, you may obtain FA qualification.MLB.com said, “Lee Jung-hoo’s father is KBO league legend Lee Jong-beom (52). Lee Jong-beom’s nickname is ‘son of the wind’, so Lee Jeong-hoo is called ‘the grandson of the wind’.” In 627 at-bats in the 2022 season, there were only 32 strikeouts and 66 walks. He emphasized that he had the highest career batting average (0.342) among all hitters in the league who had more than 3,000 plate appearances.” 메이저놀이터
Lee Jung-hoo’s outstanding ability to produce hits was praised with examples. In the article, a video was posted of Kiwoom against LG on June 18, and at the end of the 3rd inning with a 2-0 lead, Lee Jeong-hoo, the lead hitter, hit a fastball of 142km/h from opponent starter Lim Chan-gyu (30) and turned it into a right-handed hit. At that time, Lim Chan-kyu’s ball was formed under the strike zone of left-handed hitter Lee Jeong-hoo, so his center of gravity had to collapse when he tried to hit it with a bat.
MLB.com, which introduced this video, said, “Baseball fans who like Vladimir Guerrero’s (47) ability to hit wherever the ball flies will love Lee Jung-hoo’s play as well.” Guerrero, who earned the nickname ‘monster’ for his outstanding hitting ability during his active career, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018.
The Kiwoom club plans to make an official decision after discussing whether to allow Lee Jung-hoo to go abroad early next year.