User talk:A taste of MLB in just 3 games. Lee Jeong-hoo, tied for second place in least debut home run among Koreans

Next to Hwang Jae-gyun, who hit a home run in his debut Byeong-ho Park and Dae-ho Lee also hit home runs in 3 games

Lee Jeong-hoo, first MLB home run

Lee Jeong-hoo (25, San Francisco Giants), who succeeded in advancing to the big leagues with his 'contact ability', showed off his 'power' by hitting his first major league (MLB) home run in just three games. .

He became the second Korean big leaguer (tied for second place) to hit a home run quickly, erasing any doubts about his slugging ability.

Jeong-hoo Lee started as the number one hitter and center fielder in the 2024 Major League Baseball (MLB) regular season visiting game against the San Diego Padres held at Petco Park in San Diego, California on the 31st (Korean time), with no runners and one out in the top of the eighth inning. He drew a 125 km/h sweeper from left-handed bullpen Tom Cosgrove and made a solo arch in right-center.

After only 3 games in the big league, Lee Jeong-hoo recorded ‘1 home run’ in his MLB personal record.

As Lee Jeong-hoo hit a home run, the number of Korean players who hit a home run in MLB increased to 15.

Choo Shin-soo, Kang Jeong-ho, Choi Hee-seop, Choi Ji-man, Kim Ha-seong, Lee Dae-ho, Park Byeong-ho, Kim Hyun-soo, Park Hyo-jun, Park Chan-ho, Ryu Hyun-jin, Baek Cha-seung, Hwang Jae-gyun, and Bae Ji-hwan tried their hand before Lee Jeong-hoo.

Among them, there is only one batter Hwang Jae-gyun (currently KT Wiz) who hit his MLB debut home run in a shorter period of time than Lee Jeong-hoo.

Jae-gyun Hwang made his big league debut wearing a San Francisco uniform on June 29, 2017, and hit a solo home run in a home game against the Colorado Rockies.

He is the only Korean player to hit a home run in his big league debut.

Lee Jeong-hoo being congratulated

Before Jae-gyun Hwang, Byeong-ho Park (currently at KT) and Dae-ho Lee (retired) hit their first home run in the big league in 3 games, maintaining their status as the ‘Korean batters who produced the fastest home run in MLB.’

Byung-ho Park hit his first major league home run with a mid-month solo shot against the Kansas City Royals on April 9, 2016, while he was a member of the Minnesota Twins. It was a home run that came in just three games of his debut.

Dae-ho Lee also wore a Seattle Mariners uniform on the same day as Byung-ho Park and hit a solo shot in mid-month against the Oakland Athletics, his third big league game.

Lee Jeong-hoo hit his first MLB home run in three games, the same as Park Byeong-ho and Lee Dae-ho.

Byung-ho Park and Dae-ho Lee are right-handed sluggers representing Korean baseball.

On the other hand, Lee Jung-hoo recorded a batting average of 0.340, the highest among players with more than 3,000 plate appearances in the KBO League, and moved to the United States.

Local American media paid attention to the extent to which Lee Jeong-hoo's KBO League batting average will be maintained in MLB. He did not show much interest in slugging power.

Representative major league prediction systems such as ZiPS, Picota, and Steamer predicted Lee Jeong-hoo's 2024 batting average to be 0.275 to 0.291 and his win-against-replacement contribution (WAR) to be 2.5 to 3.5. The expected number of home runs was around 10.

If Lee Jeong-hoo, who showed his skills early on, increases the number of home runs, his WAR this season could actually be higher.

Choo Shin-soo (now SSG Landers), who hit 218 home runs, the most in MLB among Asian players, hit 218 home runs in MLB on July 29, 2006, after 15 games in the big league, and Kim Ha-seong (San Diego), who emerged as an infielder that MLB is paying attention to, hit 218 home runs in April 2021, after 8 games. I hit my first home run on the 11th.

Choi Hee-seop tried his hand at MLB after 5 games (September 8, 2002), and Park Hyo-jun played in 9 games (August 11, 2021).

Lee Jeong-hoo has been recognized as a ‘definite number 1 hitter’ since his first year in the team.

Among Korean big leaguers, he is the hitter who is guaranteed the most opportunities in his first season.

As long as Lee Jeong-hoo is not injured, his slugging power is more recognized in the KBO League, such as Kang Jeong-ho (15 home runs in 2015), Park Byeong-ho (12 home runs in 2016), and Kim Ha-seong (8 home runs in 2021), but he did not have enough opportunities to play in the first season of the big league. He may hit more home runs than senior batters from the KBO League. 고스톱