SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants’ minor-league facility at Papago Park in Scottsdale is the offseason home for many of their stars. While they will spend their spring at Scottsdale Stadium, Papago is simply bigger, newer, and most importantly, way nicer. 

Because he lives in South Korea most of the winter, Jung Hoo Lee is not a regular at Papago, but he could be this spring. The $50-plus million facility includes a back field that was built to the dimensions of Oracle Park, and as Lee learns a new position next month, he’s likely to spend plenty of time on that grass. 

President of baseball operations Buster Posey confirmed Friday morning that Harrison Bader, signed to a two-year contract this week, will be the starting center fielder. That will mean a shift to right field for Lee, who was said to have taken the news well during conversations with manager Tony Vitello and general manager Zack Minasian. 

“Jung Hoo was great,” Posey said Friday on a Zoom call with beat writers. “Also there’s an understanding on our end and to Jung Hoo that there’s a chance that he could still be getting reps in center field. But our plan is to have Bader playing center field.”

Lee has played some right field in the past in South Korea and Minasian pointed out that he has the physical skills to make an easy transition. He was rated well below average last year in center field, but he was in the 91st percentile in arm strength, which should help quite a bit. 

“We looked at Jungy relative to center fielders in terms of jumps and routes and arm strength and where he ranked there, and then we also looked at him relative to right fielders,” Minasian said. “A lot of that came back really positive about how he would transition to right field and where he would rank relative to other right fielders. We think he’s going to be very good out there.

“And then the other part two is the eye test of watching him last year. I think we feel like just watching him, there is an instinct to play the outfield. Just getting more and more comfortable — (that was) his second full season in the big leagues — and more and more comfortable with his teammates, that it’s something he’s going to be really good at as he goes to right.”

The position change came earlier than expected because of the addition of Bader, who will make $20.5 million over two years. Posey said the Giants were on him early in the offseason and stayed in touch, crediting Minasian for doing a good job of monitoring the market. The industry evaluation has mostly been that the Giants did well on the deal, which came in under the one signed by former Giant Mike Yastrzemski, a similar player who is four years older. 

Posey said “the eye test matches what the metrics say” in terms of Bader’s defense, which earned him a Gold Glove Award in 2021. He also said he believes there is “staying power” to Bader’s 2026 offensive surge, noting that he made mechanical changes. 

A repeat of last year’s 17 home runs would be great, but mostly the Giants needed to fix their outfield defense. 

It has been rated as the worst in baseball the past two years, but they now have one of the game’s best defensive center fielders, and both corner guys are former center fielders. On paper, at least, this should be at least a league-average defensive outfield, and possibly a very good one. 

“We’re confident that Jung Hoo will make a smooth transition, and then (there are) just a lot of quality reports on how much work Heliot (Ramos) has put in in left field this offseason,” Minasian said. “The tools and skill set are certainly there, so as we project out, we think the defense in the outfield as a whole is going to be much better than what we’ve seen last year and even probably the past couple of years. 

“We’re excited about this group together. We’ll see what they can do.”

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