Jung Hoo Lee‘s rookie season is over after a month and a half.
The San Francisco Giants outfielder will undergo season-ending surgery on his left shoulder, the team announced Friday. Lee is in the first season of a six-year, $113 million contract he signed last offseason.
The injury occurred Sunday, when Lee attempted to make a jumping catch in right-center at the Oracle Park wall. His glove missed the double from Cincinnati Reds infielder Jeimer Candelario, while his arm came down hard on the padded top of the fence (video above).
Lee left the game with an athletic trainer and was placed on the 10-day injured list with what the Giants called a left shoulder dislocation. The news got worse Tuesday, when the team revealed Lee had sustained structural damage in his shoulder and would seek a second opinion.
Lee had been holding his own so far, hitting .262/.310/.331 in 37 games while playing every day as the Giants’ leadoff hitter and center fielder. The Giants signed the 25-year-old to that nine-figure deal, which was larger than expected, on the basis of an excellent career with the Kiwoom Heroes in the KBO, where he earned MVP honors in 2022 and was a five-time Gold Glover.
Jung Hoo Lee’s surgery is latest setback for Giants this season
Lee’s contract was the largest in a highly active season for the Giants, who also signed Jorge Soler to a three-year, $42 million deal, Matt Chapman to a three-year, $54 million deal and Blake Snell to a two-year, $62 million deal.
The team was looking for a major talent infusion after a 79-83 campaign in 2023. The results have been mixed.
Soler has hit .202/.294/.361 in 34 games and landed on the IL with a shoulder strain (he was recalled Friday.) Chapman has hit .206/.258/.341 in 44 games. He remains a standout defender, but his 47 strikeouts lead the team by 11 entering Friday. Snell has been nothing but a catastrophe so far, posting an 11.57 ERA in three starts then hitting the IL with a left adductor strain. Returning players like Michael Conforto and Patrick Bailey have also dealt with injuries.
All of that has added up to the Giants’ record sitting in fourth place in the NL West at 20-25, 8.5 games back from the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers.
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