Even though there is one more year left before entering the major leagues, interest in Lee Jung-hoo (25, Kiwoom) is already hot.
On the 10th (Korean time), Canadian sports media’The Core’ ranked 20 notable major league free agents after the 2023 season. Lee Jung-hoo was ranked 15th.
Lee Jung-hoo plays for Kiwoom in the KBO League this year. After the season, Lee Jung-hoo, who has completed the 7th season of qualification for overseas advancement, decided to challenge the major leagues by posting. He is a player who has not yet been verified in the big leagues, but has a high market evaluation.
The media said, ‘After the 2023 KBO season, Lee Jung-hoo will be courted a lot. 2022 KBO League MVP Lee Jeong-hoo is an artist on the home plate. He introduced that he had a ridiculous performance with a career batting average of .342, on-base percentage of .407, and slugging percentage of .495 in six seasons. 메이저놀이터
“Lee Jung-hoo, who turns 25 in August, is young. He can play all three positions in the outfield, but he is more suitable as a center fielder,” he said. “Harrison Bader (New York Yankees), Cody Bellinger (Chicago Cubs), Enrique Hernandez (Boston), Michael A. Taylor (Kansas City) as FA center fielders next winter. ), etc.,’ he added.
However, Bader, Bellinger, Hernandez and Taylor all failed to make the top 20 of the free agent rankings. Lee Jung-hoo was the only center fielder to be included in the ranks. Although he has fallen sharply in the last 3 years, the market evaluation of Lee Jeong-hoo is much better than Bellinger, who was the National League MVP in the past 2019.
Another positive factor for Lee Jung-hoo is that Japanese outfielders, from Seiya Suzuki last year (Cubs, 85 million dollars for 5 years) to Masataka Yoshida (Boston, 5 years, 90 million dollars) this year, received special treatment one after another. The World Baseball Classic (WBC), which will be held in March, is also an opportunity to increase the value of Lee Jung-hoo.
On the other hand, after the 2023 season ranked by The Score, the first place in the free agent rankings is Shohei Ohtani (LA Angels), a pitching player. 2nd place third baseman Manny Machado (San Diego), 3rd place pitcher Julio Urias (LA Dodgers), 4th place pitcher Aaron Nola (Philadelphia), 5th place third baseman Matt Chapman (Toronto), 6th place pitcher Darvish Yu (San Diego), 7th place outfielder Ian Happ (Cubs), 8th place pitcher Blake Snell (San Diego), 9th place outfielder Teosca Hernandez (Seattle Tigers), and 10th place pitcher Clayton Kershaw (Dodgers) formed the upper ranks. 메이저사이트
Following Jeong-hoo Lee in 15th, outfielder Hunter Renfro (Angels), 17th, Jordan Montgomery (St. Louis), outfielder Jac Pederson (San Francisco), 18th, Sonny Gray (Minnesota), pitcher 19th, and Travis Dano (Atlanta), catcher, 20th. ) followed. Expectations for Lee Jung-hoo can be seen in the fact that he is ranked higher than Renfro with 157 home runs and Pederson with 171 home runs in the major leagues.