SF Giants CF Jung-Hoo Lee’s charisma shines bright in intro press conference
The SF Giants have not had the privilege of introducing the fan base to superstar acquisitions much in recent years. Roughly a year after Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and agent Scott Boras were on opposite sides of a failed agreement to bring Carlos Correa to San Francisco, they sat beside 25-year old center fielder Jung-Hoo Lee (#9-ranked free agent) as the former KBO superstar spoke to reporters in his introductory press conference after finalizing a six-year, $113 million contract with the Giants.
Lee read prepared remarks in English before answering questions from media members in his native Korean. Despite facing the challenge that comes from communicating through a translator, Lee was undeniably charismatic. While recent Giants headlines have been mired by the team's failed pursuit of Shohei Ohtani and some questionable comments about perceptions of the Bay Area by part-owner Buster Posey, there was palpable joy in the Giants clubhouse throughout the event. That all permeated from Lee's gregarious personality.
"Hello Giants, my name is Jung-Hoo Lee 'Grandson of the Wind' from Korea," Lee's opening statement began. "Thank you for helping me achieve my dream to play in MLB. I have always loved the Bay Area from coming here as a young ballplayer. I am here to win and will always give my best for my teammates and fans. Let's go Giants!"
When Lee finally put on a Giants jersey and cap, he spent some time making sure the hat did not mess with his hair. After some fiddling, he leaned down to the microphone and cheekily asked, "Handsome?"
Throughout the press conference, Lee continuously emphasized the importance of his work ethic. He noted that he is still a young player and has a lot of development left to reach his full potential. He acknowledged there are many challenges ahead of him in his first MLB season. He was also modest when asked to describe his own game.
"It's a little embarrassing to talk about myself," Lee said. "I hope the fans will get to see for themselves from Opening Day next year." (translated digitally via Jeeho Yoo)
Boras and Lee both consistently mentioned how excited he was to be in the Bay Area. Lee cited a 2013 trip to Fresno for a tournament that featured a stay in San Francisco as what spawned his affinity for the city. Lee described the Giants as "a team of historical importance" and was clearly excited to be donning the Orange and Black.
The affection was far from a one-way street, though. Boras mentioned during the press conference that the Giants front office made it clear as soon as Lee became available that he was among their top priorities. There were multiple jokes about general manager Pete Putila's trip to Korea to watch Lee take one at-bat. Lee had been a focus of the team's international scouting department for several years.
"People talk about the walks and strikeouts" Zaidi told reporters. "For Jung-Hoo's '22 season, before he got hurt this season, I think the thing that really stands out to me is the 23 homers and 32 strikeouts. Forget about walks/strikeouts, like to have your homer and strikeout numbers that close in any league is really impressive."
Despite facing weaker pitching throughout the KBO, Lee's performance at international tournaments and the World Baseball Classic gave the organization's evaluators an opportunity to see him face some more challenging arms. He more than held his own. This spring, Lee hit .429/.500/.571 with just one strikeout in 16 plate appearances during the World Baseball Classic.
"From our scouts, not just the numbers we looked at, but our scouts, his pitch recognition is just really good," Zaidi added. "When he takes a pitch, he recognizes it really early, and so that's why we have a lot of confidence that skillset will transfer."
The Giants are not done this offseason trying to make some significant additions. The team continues to be engaged with players at the top of the free agent starting pitching market and remains open to offensive upgrades. However, Lee is unlike nearly ever other free agent (Yoshinobu Yamamoto the one exception). Lee, Patrick Bailey, Casey Schmitt, Heliot Ramos, and Keaton Winn were all born within a year of each other from 1998-1999. Sure, Lee is immediately the Giants everyday center fielder, but he also has an opportunity to develop alongside the promising young players already in the organization.
The SF Giants has been aimlessly lost at sea in recent seasons, searching for the players to lead them into a new era. With the sails down, Farhan Zaidi and company have called upon the Grandson of the Wind to guide them back to shore. If Jung-Hoo Lee is as impressive an MLB player as he was charismatic during his introductory press conference on Friday, he will quickly become a franchise icon.
An earlier version of this story included a quote from Lee as translated live by Tad Yo, which conveyed a different meaning than Yoo's translation.
