The Chicago Cubs, like most MLB teams (probably all) are keeping an eye on Korean superstar Jung-Hoo Lee this season, but recently they were one of a handful of teams to get a closer look at the 24-year-old outfielder.
Back in January, news broke that the Kiwoom Heroes of the KBO League would be posting Lee at the conclusion of the 2023 season.
Last week, the Cubs, along with the Oakland A's, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants and the Yomiuri Giants from Japan, had scouts in attendance to watch Lee in action.
Of course, as one of the most intriguing foreign players in the upcoming free agent class, you can pretty much guarantee that all 30 teams will have eyes on Lee. However, it will be interesting to see how often teams use their resources to continue scouting the outfielder throughout the 2023 season.
In 2022, Lee put up his best season as a pro in Korea, slashing .349/.421/.575, posting a .996 OPS with 23 home runs in 142 games. As is the case with most players coming over from other leagues, the biggest question mark surrounding batters is how will their hitting style translate against MLB pitching. Can they hit for enough power?
So far this season, Lee has taken a slight step back at the plate, although he's still posting great offensive numbers. The left-handed hitter is slashing .304/.393/.470, (.863 OPS) with six home runs in 58 games, while recording awesome plate discipline numbers: 12.7 BB%, 6.4 K%. That's 34 walks to 17 strikeouts in 267 plate appearances so far in 2023.
Lee made his professional debut in Korea back in 2017 at the age of 18. So, although he's only 24-years-old (he'll turn 25 on Aug. 20) this is currently his seventh season playing in the KBO.
So far this year Lee has started all his games in the field in center, but he does previous experience playing in the corner outfield positions as well. However, since the beginning of the 2021 season, Lee has mostly started in center field.
Player comparisons are never fair, but for the sake of the exercise, the last time a prominent position player came from Korea to MLB was back in 2021, when Ha-Seong Kim signed with the San Diego Padres. The right-handed hitter was also 24-years-old in his final season playing in the KBO, but although Kim was regarded as the league's best hitter, his numbers weren't close to Lee's.
Kim struggled in his rookie season with the Padres on offense, but he's rebounded to become an above-average hitter during the past two years in San Diego, while also playing great defense. You would think by just looking at their stats in Korea, that Lee will be a better hitter. But we won't know until Lee is actually facing MLB pitchers in 2024.
As far as Lee being an outfielder, you figure that part out later if you believe in his bat at the MLB level if you're the Cubs.
