“When I was in Future’s team, I personally thought, ‘Let’s set an example to our juniors. Let’s show them everything we have so they don’t feel ashamed’.”

Lotte Giants outfielder Junghoon Lee 30 is a player who is thirsty for success. He lived a baseball life with ups and downs. After graduating from Whimungo-Kyung Hee University, Junghoon Lee was drafted by the KIA Tigers with the 94th ranking in the second 10th round in 2017. He achieved his dream of becoming a professional by taking the last train, but there was no place for Junghoon Lee, who was a catcher, to stand in KIA. He played only 61 games in the first division for six years until 2022. He had high expectations for his batting average of 0.248 32 hits in 129 times at bat in 2021, when he had the most chances with 41 games, which was his career-high. He wanted to have a chance. In 2022, he went back to the past with only six games in the first division, and in the end, KIA notified Junghoon Lee of his release.

After paying close attention to Junghoon Lee’s batting talent, Lotte also extended its hand to Lee Jung-hoon when recruiting a large number of players to release him ahead of the 2023 season. The annual salary was 40 million won. Lotte recommended that Junghoon Lee shift his position to first baseman or outfielder instead of catcher to focus more on batting, and Junghoon Lee, who is at a crossroads as a baseball player, had no choice but to challenge himself. Last season, Junghoon Lee successfully demonstrated his batting talent to some extent by recording a batting average of 0.296 45 hits in 152 times at bat, one homer, and 17 RBIs in 59 games.

Junghoon Lee would have liked to make this year the year to increase chances to play in the pro team. However, it made a mistake starting from the spring camp. When moving to the second camp in Okinawa, Japan, after the first camp in Guam, he was informed of his joining in the second camp. The first camp is to identify players to use as full capacity for this season, while the second camp is to almost select players to play in the opening games to build sense of play. It was a sign that he has been excluded from the first team’s roster in a cool-headed manner.

Junghoon Lee didn’t give up. He gritted his teeth and trained hard in the second division. “When I couldn’t join the Okinawa camp after the Guam camp, I thought I was lacking a lot,” Junghoon Lee said. When I joined the Futures team second division, Kim Yong-hee and other coaches such as Kim Pyong-ho, Lee Byung-kyu, Lee Seong-gon and Na Kyung-min provided me a lot of sincere help. He asked me to tease him a lot, but he invested a lot of time in the future team.”

It was a result that bothered Futures team coaches a lot. Junghoon Lee was registered in the main league on Friday after playing a remarkable role in five Futures League games with a batting average of 0.471 eight hits in 17 at-bats, on-base percentage of 0.471, slugging percentage of 0.529 and three RBIs. He thus made the first team roster in just over a week after the season opened. Except for Victor Reyes and Jeon Jun-woo, Lotte had no player producing hits steadily at bat, and Lotte manager Kim Tae-hyung called up Junghoon Lee to find a new combination.

“A Junghoon Lee can be used as a substitute, and if he goes out as a designated hitter, Jeon Jun-woo could go to left field. Depending on the situation, I think we need to use him,” Kim said during the call-up.

Junghoon Lee is making full use of the opportunities it has had. He recorded a batting average of 0.444 four hits from nine times at bat, three RBIs and a 1.111 OPS in three games, giving Lotte’s batters a breathing room. Junghoon Lee started as the fifth designated hitter at the game against the Sajik Doosan Bears on Wednesday, and garnered two hits and three RBIs from four times at bat, contributing to his team’s 8-1 complete victory.

Together with third batter Reyes and fourth batter Jeon Joon-woo, he completely hit the central batter’s box. When Junghoon Lee took the lead with 3-0 in the bottom of the third inning thanks to Reyes’ timely two-run double and Jeon’s timely two-run double, it helped to increase the game’s winning streak to 4-0. With the team leading 6-1 at the bottom of the seventh inning with one out, he hit a timely two-run single to the left of the center fielder to complete the three-run game. Three RBIs are the new record in a single game.

Junghoon Lee said, “When I was in the Futures Team, I thought, ‘Let’s set an example to our juniors. Let’s show them everything we have so that we don’t feel ashamed’. I was motivated and I think I was able to come to the first team on time.”

“When I looked back on today’s game 6th, it was regrettable that I hit a grounder to the second base in the third batter’s box rather than the batter’s box where I had a hit. If I had been hit a little bit more ahead, I could have produced a good ball, but I couldn’t,” he said, expressing regret.

Kim will likely continue to utilize Junghoon Lee’s hot bat. Players that he considered to be major hitters such as Yoo Kang-nam, Noh Jin-hyuk, and Park Seung-wook are performing in the batting average of around 10 percent or below 10 percent. 토토사이트 순위

Prior to the game on Tuesday, Kim said, “I’m trying to take turns playing the player in the beginning. I’m looking at a player with good timing and mechanism at bat. Some players have the right timing, even if they don’t fit, and some players don’t fit the ball at all right now. But if I still understand it to a certain extent, I will continue to use it, but now it is not yet,” and Junghoon Lee seems to have played a role in relieving one of its concerns.