There are 5,611 miles separating Seoul, South Korea from San Francisco, and possibly an even bigger gulf in competition between Major League Baseball and the Korean Baseball Organization for Jung Hoo Lee to navigate.
Lee, 25, is the Giants’ new center fielder after officially signing Thursday. The Giants have signed the former KBO Most Valuable Player to a six-year, $113 million deal — with an opt-out after four seasons — making him the franchise’s biggest free agent signing since Barry Zito in 2006.
The Giants made the massive financial commitment, which dwarfed industry projections, knowing there could be a learning curve for Lee. Their bet is that Lee’s athleticism at a premium position and bat-to-ball skills, which allowed him to strike out at a minuscule rate, will translate stateside.
While the KBO is one of the most competitive baseball leagues in the world, there’s little precedent of Korean players thriving in MLB. Just 28 Koreans have played in MLB, the majority of whom are pitchers. Fifteen have registered less than two wins above replacement in their careers, per Baseball Reference.
The reverse move — MLB players going to Korea — has exposed the gap in competition; former A’s minor league first baseman Eric Thames learned how to hit a curveball in the KBO and won the league MVP in 2015. Last year, Erick Fedde went from a 5.81 ERA for the Nationals to a 20-6 record and MVP award for the NC Dinos.
Lee has hit over .300 in each of his seven seasons in the KBO. In his 2022 MVP season, Lee smacked a career-high 23 home runs and walked twice as much as he struck out. An ankle fracture limited him to 86 games last year, but Giants general manager Pete Putila and other scouts with the team saw him plenty.
Based on his KBO performance, Fangraphs’ projections system, ZiPS, compared Lee to players such as Steven Kwan, Ketel Marte and Lenny Dykstra — solid everyday players, even All-Stars, without much home run pop.
It’s safe to assume Lee will need time to adjust to MLB competition. How much time, and how he performs once he settles in, will determine how San Francisco’s big free agent splash in years will turn out. Examining some recent players who made the KBO-to-MLB jump may crack a window into his range of outcomes.
Ha-Seong Kim
Besides Shin-Soo Choo, who had a 15-year MLB career but did not come up through KBO, Kim is the biggest Korea-to-MLB success story on the position player side.
Even still, it took Kim an entire season to really find his footing. As a rookie, at the same age as Lee, the swift-fielding Kim hit .202 with eight homers. Since then, he has become one of the most valuable players in the sport, with elite defensive versatility, speed and line-drive power.
Last year, Kim stole 38 bases, won a Gold Glove and earned down-ballot MVP votes. He generated as much Fangraphs WAR (4.4) as his Padres teammates Fernando Tatis Jr. and Xander Bogaerts.
Kim and Lee were teammates on the Heroes in 2019 and 2020. If the newest Giant follows his trajectory, the Giants would be thrilled.
San Diego Padres second baseman Ha-Seong Kim, left, throws to first base after forcing out San Francisco Giants’ Joc Pederson, right, at second base during the fourth inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Jung Ho Kang
Legal and personal troubles eventually derailed Kang’s MLB career, but his transition from the KBO to MLB was smooth initially.
Kang made the leap to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2015, a year after he broke out with a career-high 40 home runs in the KBO. In his first two years with the Pirates, before a catastrophic leg injury, he posted a .838 OPS in 229 games. The power-hitting infielder had no trouble adjusting to Major League fastballs finishing third for National League Rookie of the Year and then showing even more power the next season.
Kang was three years older than Lee when he entered MLB. For reasons wholly unrelated to the KBO-to-MLB conversion, his career didn’t pan out: He had his visa revoked after multiple DUIs between the U.S. and Korea.
Hyun Soo Kim
Kim had more power than Lee in the KBO, but was also more of a contact hitter with strong plate discipline metrics. He came to the Orioles in 2016 as a superstar in his prime. He’d won three Gold Gloves, a batting title and a Korean Series championship.
As a rookie, he hit .302, albeit with much less power. Kim hit six homers in 95 games for the Orioles, amassing a still-impressive .801 OPS at 28 years old. He made a successful leap.
But Kim struggled the next year, was traded to Philadelphia and finished the season with an underwater.599 OPS. He returned to the KBO afterwards.
Since the Giants signed Lee to a six-year pact, he’ll have much more opportunity to prove himself through ups and downs in MLB.
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Lee projects to be what a loud portion of Giants fans purportedly want to see at Oracle Park. He should be in the lineup every day, could flirt with .300, and has a vibrant personality equipped with a fun nickname — “Grandson of the Wind” — and theme song. He’s an international star with major intrigue.
While jumping from the KBO to MLB is a challenge, recent precedent shows it’s possible.
With the richest contract for an Asian-born hitter coming to the States ever, the pressure will be on Lee to continue proving as much.
