As he attempts to make it to Major League Baseball (MLB), 25-year-old Lee Jung-hoo (Kiwoom Heroes) could be the heir apparent to his “role model” Ichiro Suzuki (50).
There is talk in the United States about Lee’s destination.
Sodomozzo, an outlet that focuses on Seattle Mariners news, discussed the possibility of Lee and Seattle in an article titled “Could Lee be the answer to the Seattle Mariners’ high strikeout rate?” on Aug. 8 (KST).
This season, Seattle went 88-74 with a .556 winning percentage.
They were in the American League Wild Card race until the end of the season, but missed the postseason by just one game to the Toronto Blue Jays. 카지노사이트777
Last year, the team was unable to repeat its first fall baseball experience in 21 years.
At the plate, last year’s American League Rookie of the Year, Julio Rodriguez, 23, looked more comfortable and joined the 30-homer, 30-steal club for the first time in his career (32 homers, 37 steals), while catcher Carl Raleigh (30 homers), outfielder Teoscar Hernandez (26 homers), and third baseman Eugenio Suarez (22 homers) also hit 20 or more homers.
With these players, Seattle is hitting above the American League average (195 home runs, 0.729 OPS) in both team home runs (210) and OPS (0.734).
However, the hitting has been hampered by too many strikeouts.
Seattle’s 1603 team strikeouts are second only to the Minnesota Twins (1654) in the league.
At least Minnesota is tied for first with 233 team home runs, but Seattle isn’t quite there.
“A priority goal for general manager Jerry Dipoto and the Seattle front office is to reduce the team’s strikeouts,” the outlet wrote, explaining that “three Seattle players ranked in the top 10 in the majors in strikeouts this year.”
In fact, Suarez is second in the majors with 214 strikeouts, one behind Kyle Schwarber (Philadelphia, 215). Hernandez (211) is third and Rodriguez (175) is tied for eighth.
As the value of home runs has increased in Major League Baseball since the 2010s, so have the number of hard swings and strikeouts.
That doesn’t mean too many strikeouts are acceptable.
“The trio’s inability to make contact led to more unproductive outs with runners in scoring position,” the publication wrote.
However, they did note that he underwent surgery in mid-July to repair a torn left ankle extensor ligament (the membrane that wraps around ankle tendons).
“Despite the injury, he’s still expected to advance through the postseason system and could be a nice addition for Seattle in 2024,” the outlet concluded.
Seattle has already acquired a low-strikeout Asian hitter in the past. Ichiroda.
The seven-time Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) batting champion (1994-2000) came to Seattle for the 2001 season.
In his first year, Ichiro hit .350 with 56 stolen bases, winning the American League MVP and Rookie of the Year honors and amassing 3089 hits in his big league career.
Although Ichiro didn’t have a high on-base percentage (0.355) compared to his batting average (0.311), he also struck out less.
If you convert his major league career to 162 games, that’s 66 strikeouts in 607 at-bats.
That’s a small number compared to his at-bats.
That said, Ichiro did generate a lot of in-play hits.
Lee even wears the same number as Ichiro, 51, and looks up to him as a role model.
With similar strengths to Ichiro, Lee will be knocking on the door of the major leagues to join his idol’s team.