SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. \u2014 Jung Hoo Lee idolized Ichiro Suzuki as a kid. Like Suzuki, Lee wears No. 51. Like Suzuki, Lee employs a contact-centric approach.<\/p>\n
And now, like Suzuki, Lee plays right field.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a smooth conversation,\u201d Lee said through team interpreter Justin Han on Friday afternoon. \u201cI know that bringing in (Harrison) Bader is going to make the outfield way better. It wasn\u2019t hard to make a decision saying that I\u2019ll move over to right field. Whatever it takes to help the team out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following the addition of Bader on a two-year, $20.5 million<\/a> deal in late January, president of baseball operations Buster Posey and general manager Zack Minasian confirmed that Lee would move from center to right<\/a>. Minasian and rookie manager Tony Vitello spoke to Lee about the move, and both said that Lee took the news in stride.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was great. I\u2019ll keep the particulars to us, but he almost tried to make it easier on me,\u201d Minasian said. \u201cTotal team player. He\u2019s a pro. I think he appreciates and respects how our fans have treated him and connected to him, so I think Jung Hoo\u2019s message to me, short and sweet, was whatever I can do to help us win.\u201d<\/p>\n The Giants didn\u2019t envision moving Lee from center field to right field before the halfway point of the six-year, $113 million deal he signed ahead of the 2024 season. Given Lee\u2019s poor defensive metrics, it was a transition they needed to make.<\/p>\n Over 184 games in the majors, Lee has been worth -6 outs above average, a range-based defensive metric. Last season, Lee totaled -5 outs above average, and San Francisco\u2019s outfielders combined were last in the majors in the metric<\/a> (-18).<\/p>\n \u201cGoing back to the past season, if I played better in center field, the organization would\u2019ve kept me in center field,\u201d Lee said. \u201cBut, whatever it takes to make the team better. I\u2019ve always been (for) the team.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Lee was asked whether his shoulder injury in 2024<\/a>, caused by crashing into the center-field wall, affected him last season. He responded by saying it would be \u201ca bad look for me\u201d to blame his defense on the ailment, instead conceding he \u201ccould have done better.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite Lee\u2019s poor metrics in center field, the Giants believe Lee has the foundation to be a solid defensive right fielder.<\/p>\n Lee hasn\u2019t played right field in the majors, but has experience at the position dating back to his time in the KBO League in South Korea, where he won five Golden Glove Awards. While Lee\u2019s range rated out poorly, his 91st percentile arm will certainly play.<\/p>\n \u201cWe looked at Jungy relative to center fielders in terms of jumps and routes and arm strength and where he ranked there. Then, we also looked at him relative to right fielders,\u201d Minasian said in January. \u201cSo, 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\u2019s going to be very good out there.\u201d<\/p>\n The biggest obstacle awaiting Lee is Oracle Park\u2019s unique right-field wall. The wall\u2019s combination of height (24 feet), angles, bricks and chainlink archways makes for a challenge, but Lee said he plans to call former Giant Mike Yastrzemski and get some tips on conquering the beast. The Giants also have a field at Papago Park that replicates Oracle Park\u2019s dimensions, the main difference being that all the fences are chainlink.<\/p>\n \u201cThe right field in Oracle Park (has) so many dynamics and so much going on,\u201d Lee said. \u201cI\u2019ll head over there when spring training is over and spend a lot of time over there at that corner.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHis openness and willingness to go out to right field and train out there has been key,\u201d Vitello said. \u201cThen, it\u2019s going to have to go a step further because, as you mentioned, our park is unique. So, the fact he is a true center fielder can benefit the outfield play as a whole because I know last year wasn\u2019t as good as it needed to be.\u201d<\/p>\n Oracle Park\u2019s center field now becomes the domain of Bader, a one-time Gold Glove Award winner who has been one of the best defensive outfielders of his generation.<\/p>\n Since 2017, Bader\u2019s +77 outs above average are the most among all outfielders<\/a>, while his +67 outs above average in center field are second only to Kevin Kiermaier<\/a>. With Bader in center field alongside Lee in right and Heliot Ramos in left field, San Francisco\u2019s outfield stands to improve.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m super excited about it,\u201d said Logan Webb, who threw his first live bullpen of camp on Friday. \u201cYou obviously got Bader, who\u2019s known for being unbelievable out there. (Heliot) Ramos has worked his butt off all offseason. Obviously, Jungy. Jungy looks great right now. He seems to be excited about the move. \u2026 I think it\u2019ll be a smooth transition.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. \u2014 Jung Hoo Lee idolized Ichiro Suzuki as a kid. Like Suzuki, Lee wears No. 51.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":571116,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2408],"tags":[5,5776,2178,162,5774,5775,853,4,5777,378,5778,66,4343,4340,4344,4341,4342,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-571115","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco-giants","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-bay-area","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-giants","12":"tag-giants-hq","13":"tag-inside-sports","14":"tag-latest-headlines","15":"tag-mlb","16":"tag-peninsula","17":"tag-san-francisco","18":"tag-san-francisco-county","19":"tag-san-francisco-giants","20":"tag-sanfrancisco","21":"tag-sanfranciscogiants","22":"tag-sf","23":"tag-sf-giants","24":"tag-sfgiants","25":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116065942099431780","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}