Matt Williams (59), a former manager of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) KIA Tigers and current third base coach for the San Francisco Giants in the Major League Baseball (MLB), gave a thumbs-up to Lee Jung-hoo (26), calling him an “all-around player who can do everything.”
“There are only 10 teams in the KBO (Korean Baseball Organization) league, so I saw Lee a lot during the time I was the manager of the KIA (2020-2021),” Williams said in an interview with local media outlet The Athletic on Monday, adding, “When I saw him, I thought, ‘There’s nothing he can’t do. He’s a great outfielder and one of the best hitters in the league. He had a great understanding of the game, he was a great dugout presence, and he was loved by his teammates.”
Williams was the third foreigner to manage in the Korean Baseball Organization, following Jerry Royster (Lotte) and Trey Hillman (then SK). He was the first to be a former Major League Baseball All-Star. He played 17 seasons in the major leagues from 1987 to 2003, earning five All-Star selections. As an active player, he was a powerhouse in the National League, winning the batting title in 1990 and the home run title in 1994.
Williams returned to his homeland as a big-league coach, and now he’s working with Lee.
Lee signed a six-year, $113 million contract with the Giants last December. It’s the highest contract ever for an Asian-born slugger. The team is excited about Lee.
“I didn’t necessarily voice my opinion on his signing,” Williams said, “but I knew he would be a great addition to the team.”
The Athletics and Williams cited Lee’s “all-time great” hitting talent in South Korea as a reason to believe he could make the jump to the big leagues. Williams acknowledged that it would take time for Lee to adjust to the fastball in the majors early on. 온라인카지노 He thinks it might be difficult for him to hit .300 and be an All-Star right out of the gate. However, he was confident in Lee’s gradual evolution, and predicted that he could contribute to a World Series championship.
Lee has been hailed as one of the best hitting talents in KBO history.
In seven seasons in Korea, he has a career batting average of .340. It is the highest among hitters with more than 3,000 at-bats. In the 2022 season, he won five batting titles. His career strikeout rate is 7.7% and last year it was only 5.9%. In 2023, the average strikeout rate among major league hitters was 22.7%. He has only 65 home runs in 1181 career at-bats, but he has produced plenty of doubles (244) and triples (43).
“The leading major league projection systems, including ZiPS, Futures, and Steamer, project a batting average of .275 to .291 and a strikeout rate of 7.3 to 11.3 percent in 2024,” said The Athletic, “with a projected Wins Above Replacement (WAR) of 2.5 to 3.5. The highest WAR among San Francisco pitchers last year was Wilmer Flores at 2.7.”
Lee departed the country on Jan. 1 and has been warming up at the team’s spring training facility in Scottsdale, Arizona.