This story was excerpted from Maria Guardado’s Giants Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
There’s something about New York that seems to bring out the best in Jung Hoo Lee.
The Giants’ center fielder went deep in his Yankee Stadium debut on April 11 and then capped his first visit to the Bronx with his first career multihomer game two days later. He continued to rake when he returned to town to face the Mets at Citi Field this past weekend, delivering a career-high four hits to help the Giants clinch a series victory on Sunday.
“Maybe the environment’s a little bit like Seoul, the capital city of Korea,” Lee said via interpreter Justin Han. “Maybe that’s why.”
Lee went 11-for-21 (.524) with four doubles, three homers and eight RBIs over six games in New York this year, though his production in between those two trips to the Big Apple was much spottier. The 26-year-old looked like a rising star after batting .319 with a .901 OPS over his first 30 games of the season, but he cooled down significantly over the next two months, which is one of the reasons the Giants’ offense started to flail.
Lee hit only .143 with a .551 OPS over 25 games in June, prompting the Giants to drop him from third to seventh in their batting order. Lately, though, Lee seems to be rediscovering the form he showed at the beginning of the season. He rebounded to hit .278 with a .733 OPS over 21 games in July and has now gone 9-for-20 (.450) with four doubles and a triple over his first five games in August, a turnaround that has largely been driven by his efforts to regain his identity as a contact hitter.
“He’s kind of trying to figure out what works best for him right now,” manager Bob Melvin said. “Early in the season, he was driving some balls. I think here recently, he’s maybe trying to get away from that a little bit. This season can be a little bit longer for him here. I think he’s trying to find a balance of what works best for him. Right now, you’re seeing some hits the other way. You’re seeing not as much try to pull the ball and drive the ball. I think that’s probably a prudent thing to do right now for him.”
"There's always that need of change when things aren't working out,” Lee said. “As you guys know, in the past, it wasn't great. Recently, it's been a little better. It's exactly what Bob said. I'm trying to switch up the little things in the cage, during practice and getting ready before the game. It's more about contact and trying to get the ball over to the [opposite] field and trying to make everything work out well."
Lee doesn’t typically produce eye-popping exit velocities and ranks in the 11th percentile with a 30.8% hard-hit rate this year, but he squares the ball up consistently and ranks in the 94th percentile with a 10.4 strikeout rate, which speaks to his elite bat-to-ball skills. The Giants have recently experimented with flashing more hit-and-run signs to try to get Lee back into more of a contact-oriented mindset and take better advantage of his skillset.
“It’s crazy, because every time the hit-and-run sign was on, I actually got a hit off the pitcher,” Lee said after Sunday’s game.
Lee missed most of his rookie season for the Giants after undergoing surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder last May, but he was also limited to 86 games for the KBO’s Kiwoom Heroes in 2023 due to an ankle injury. Melvin said he plans to give Lee more days off down the stretch to help combat any fatigue that he may be dealing with in his first full season in the big leagues.
The Giants should have an easier time resting Lee after recalling Grant McCray from Triple-A Sacramento, though Lee is still bummed about having to say goodbye to his close friend Mike Yastrzemski, who was dealt to the Royals at the Trade Deadline last week.
“I heard the news right before I was going to dinner,” Lee said. “I’m not going to lie, I did break down a little bit because Yaz was a really good friend. We texted each other a lot. I sent over a lot of long text messages. I hope for the best for Yaz from now on.”