San Francisco Giants player Lee Jung-hoo (27) is conquering Major League Baseball with his unique batting style.

Major League Baseball's official media outlet, MLB.com, reported on the 2nd (Korea time), "This is the secret to Lee Jung-hoo's potential blooming this season," publishing an in-depth analysis article about him.

Lee Jung-hoo is regarded as the best hitter in Korea, having recorded a .304 batting average over 884 games in the KBO League, with 1,181 hits out of 3,476 at-bats, 65 home runs, 515 runs batted in, 581 runs scored, 69 stolen bases, and an OPS of .898. After the conclusion of the 2023 season, he challenged to enter Major League Baseball through posting and signed a six-year contract worth $113 million (approximately 162.4 billion won) with San Francisco.

His debut season was disappointing. While adjusting to Major League Baseball, he suffered a shoulder injury while playing defense, causing him to be sidelined early in the season. He finished the season with a .262 batting average over 37 games, with 38 hits out of 145 at-bats, 2 home runs, 8 runs batted in, 15 runs scored, 2 stolen bases, and an OPS of .641.

However, this year Lee Jung-hoo has successfully rebounded. He is continuing his hot performance with a .316 batting average over 31 games, with 37 hits out of 117 at-bats, 3 home runs, 18 runs batted in, 23 runs scored, 3 stolen bases, and an OPS of .893. Although he does not hit many home runs, he demonstrates outstanding hitting productivity with his high batting average and excellent power-hitting ability.

MLB.com has noted Lee Jung-hoo's unique batting form. He begins his batting with an open stance, looking at the pitcher. However, as the pitcher starts the pitch, he pulls his right leg inward and crouches down, then advances toward the pitcher and executes a powerful swing as the ball approaches.

"It is a batting style that is rarely seen in Major League Baseball. Lee Jung-hoo employs a batting stance like Rafael Devers (Boston), a toe-tap like Shohei Ohtani (Los Angeles Dodgers), and an uppercut swing style like Freddie Freeman (Los Angeles Dodgers)," described MLB.com of Lee's batting form. "His swing does not flow smoothly through all those motions, but rather progresses painstakingly through each stage piece by piece," it analyzed.

Lee Jung-hoo emphasized that the most important aspect of his batting method is timing. "Everything depends on timing. No matter what kind of pitch the pitcher throws, timing is crucial. If the timing is right, I can produce quality hits against various types of pitches," he explained.

Lee Jung-hoo, the son of legendary Korean professional baseball hitter Lee Jong-beom, said, "My father did not teach me how to play baseball. This is a batting style I created myself. Dad and I have different swings." He continued, "I have been batting like this since high school. Even when I came to the KBO League, my team (Kiwoom) allowed me to swing in my own style. That's how I improved each year and found my current batting style."

MLB.com explained, "Open stances can better respond to the various pitching styles of pitchers. According to new batting posture data from Statcast (Major League Baseball's official statistics site), Lee Jung-hoo has one of the five most open batting postures among left-handed batters in Major League Baseball. He has a stance that is opened 41 degrees toward first base." Lee responded by stating, "I wasn’t always like this with an open stance. There wasn’t a special reason for it, and it just naturally became my current stance."

When the pitch starts and Lee Jung-hoo brings his feet together before stepping forward to bat, his body opens only 20 degrees. MLB.com commented, "This is where Lee Jung-hoo's elite contact skills shine. He may not have fast bat speed, but he has excellent ability to make contact with the sweet spot of the bat, similar to Luis Arraez (San Diego)."

MLB.com also focused on Lee Jung-hoo's upper swing. It emphasized, "Lee Jung-hoo swings at the steepest angle when batting," but added, "he is a different type of batter compared to others who also make uppercut swings. Many uppercut swing batters tend to hit a lot of fly balls and strikeouts, leading to limited results. Of course, Lee Jung-hoo can hit home runs, but his true specialty lies in hitting line drive hits. In that aspect, he is most similar to Freddie Freeman and Steven Kwan (Cleveland)."

Lee Jung-hoo said, "I have always known that I cannot be a power home run hitter," noting, "So I focused on hitting line drive hits. When I was a young professional baseball player, I considered my body type and hit a lot of line drives. Even now, I practice every day with the goal of hitting line drive hits."

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