San Francisco Giants' Lee Jung-hoo (27) obtained a walk after an incredible 100 plate appearances. In a rare game with 2 walks, he increased his on-base percentage.

On the 22nd (Korea time), Lee Jung-hoo started as the third hitter in center field for the home game against the Kansas City Royals at Oracle Park in San Francisco, California, recording 3 at-bats with 1 hit and 2 walks for a total of 3 times on base.

Continuing his hitting streak to 3 games, Lee Jung-hoo slightly raised his season batting average from .275 to .276 (53 hits in 192 at-bats), and his OPS increased from .775 to .786.

Although San Francisco lost 4-8, it was a meaningful day for Lee Jung-hoo. In his second at-bat of the third inning, he hit a right-field double, and the process was very good. Kansas City right-handed reliever Jonathan Bolan persistently challenged him with outside pitches on the first to fifth deliveries, but Lee Jung-hoo calmly picked the pitches without swinging.

Not missing the changeup that came in on the sixth pitch of a full count, Lee Jung-hoo pulled it sharply to the right of the right fielder. After contact, Lee Jung-hoo sprinted hard and slid into second base, losing his helmet. It was his 14th double of the season. He did not get caught by outside pitches from the opposing pitcher, showing his adaptability by converting a pitch in the zone into a long hit.

In the fourth inning, with two outs and runners on first and second base, he finally obtained a walk. He got a walk on the fifth pitch from right-hander Stephen Cruz. On a 3-1 count, a cutter at 93.7 mph (150.8 km/h) came deep inside, almost hitting him in the lower left back, but he barely avoided it and walked to first base. It was his 12th walk of the season and the first walk in May, obtained after an astounding 100 plate appearances.

Lee Jung-hoo's most recent walk before this was on the 25th of last month during the fifth inning of the game against the Milwaukee Brewers, where he got a walk during his third at-bat. Since then, he had gone 23 consecutive games without a walk. During this period, Lee Jung-hoo's batting average dropped significantly to .215 (20 hits in 93 at-bats), with only one hit by pitch besides no additional walks.

In the meantime, Lee Jung-hoo's season batting average also fell from .333 to .275. When his hitting was declining, he needed to consistently obtain one or two walks to manage his batting average, but Lee Jung-hoo had not gotten a walk for over three weeks. During this stretch, he only managed 1 hit in 12 games with 4 at-bats. Even hitting one single, without any walks, caused his batting average to gradually decline.

Even during his time in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) League, Lee Jung-hoo had a relatively low walk rate of 9.7% with 383 walks in 3,947 plate appearances over 7 seasons. In Major League Baseball, it decreased to 6.3% last year and this year. Lee Jung-hoo, who has a strong bad-ball hitter tendency, hasn’t had many walks lately, but this has become prominent over the last month. It could be considered an anomaly that he hasn’t gotten walks despite not being a player with significantly poor plate discipline.

However, on this day, Lee Jung-hoo obtained a walk after 24 games and 100 plate appearances. Taking advantage of this, he also selected a walk in his last at-bat in the ninth inning against Kansas City's right-handed high-leverage pitcher Lucas Ersek after a 6-pitch full count battle. On a 2-1 count, he swung at an outside fastball that entered the zone on the fourth pitch but fouled it off. The fastballs and changeups on the fifth and sixth pitches were all balls that went high and outside the zone, leading him to walk to first base again.

Lee Jung-hoo, who succeeded in getting on base 3 times in a game with 2 walks for the fourth time this season. If he hadn’t gotten the walks, he could have ended up with either 1 hit in 4 at-bats or 1 hit in 5 at-bats, which would have further lowered his batting average. However, on this day, with 2 walks, he slightly raised his average. His on-base percentage also increased from .315 to .322.

[OSEN]