The Year of the Blue Snake? 2024 'No. 1 in slugging percentage + OPS, No. 2 in homers' and study buffs... Lee Jae-hyun, who grows every year, is aiming for GG this year
The Year of the Blue Snake? 2024 'No. 1 in slugging percentage + OPS, No. 2 in homers' and study buffs... Lee Jae-hyun, who grows every year, is aiming for GG this year
Blog Article
The Year of the Blue Snake has come. Will Lee Jae-hyun (22), the "baby snake" who is wearing the blue uniform of the Samsung Lions, be able to make this year his own.
Lee Jae-hyun, who graduated from Seoul High School and joined Samsung as the first draft pick of the 2022 Rookie Draft, took the first-team stage that year and showed sufficient potential with a batting average of 0.235 seven home runs and 23 RBIs in 75 games. Lee Jae-hyun, who took over Kim Sang-soo's position as the team's main shortstop after leaving the team as the FA in 2023, played 143 games with a batting average of 0.249 12 home runs and 60 RBIs, hitting double-digit home runs in his second year of debut. 스포츠토토
He joined the team a little later in the aftermath of shoulder surgery in the 2024 season, but he showed a better improvement than in the last 2023 season with a batting average of 0.260 14 home runs, 66 RBIs and an OPS of 0.784 in 109 games. He performed impressively enough to achieve double-digit home runs for two consecutive years, ranking second in home runs, OPS, and first in slugging percentage among the league's shortstop.
Above all, it is encouraging that he is steadily growing. Since 2022, the first season of his debut, his batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage have increased little by little every year. He has even improved his batting eye this season to the extent that he garnered six more walks even though he entered 80 at-bats less than last year.
He has taken a step further in defense as well. He reduced the number of errors he made from 20 during 1,156 ⅓ innings to 11 in 861 ⅓ innings this year. Although he had fewer innings than Park Chan-ho (23 in 1,120 ⅓ innings) and Park Sung-han (23 in 1,115 innings), he has displayed relatively stable defense capability.
Not long ago, he also studied in the U.S. for a short period of time. "Pitcher Hwang Dong-jae and infielder Lee Jae-hyun are leaving for the U.S. to improve their skills," Samsung said on Wednesday. Samsung dispatched Hwang Dong-jae and Lee Jae-hyun to the Cressey Sports Performance (CSP), a baseball program facility in West Palm Beach, Florida, and went through a three-week training program.
Lee Jae-hyun aims to become the first "Korean shortstop with 20 home runs" in the history of Samsung this year, as he has added "study buff" to his steady growth. Among Samsung's shortstops in history, Burrito (2 times in 2022 and 2023) is the only player who has achieved 20 home runs.
If Lee Jae-hyun shows his improvement from the 2024 season, he will be on par with prominent seniors such as Park Chan-ho (KIA Tigers), Park Sung-han (SSG Landers), and veteran shortstop Oh Ji-hwan (LG Twins), who fought for the shortstop's Golden Glove at the last Golden Glove Awards. The day will not be long before they compete with each other for the Golden Glove.