Lee Hak-joo (34), who was called a “genius shortstop,” was notified of his release.
The Lotte Giants of professional baseball said on the 5th, “Through interviews, we conveyed our intention to release four players: infielders Lee Hak-joo, Oh Sun-jin, pitchers Lee In-bok and Lim Jun-seop.”
Lee Hak-joo faced another difficulty in his turbulent baseball career. During his high school years, he was named the top shortstop. After graduating from Chungam High School, he signed a 1.15 million dollar contract with the Chicago Cubs in 2009, and challenged himself to the Major League.
Call-ups in the Major League have been hampered by injuries in the minor leagues under the Tampa Bay Rays. During the 2013 season, he recorded a batting average of 422 (19 hits in 45 at-bats) with an OPS of 1.136 through the end of April in Triple-A, and was ahead of call-ups in the Major League, but suffered a ruptured knee cruciate ligament due to extreme sliding by opposing runners.
During the 2014-2015 season after rehabilitation, he recorded a batting average in the early 20s with Triple-A, and had no chance to call up again. He signed a minor league contract with the San Francisco Giants in the 2016 season and played for Triple-A. He returned to Korea afterwards.
He participated in the rookie draft in 2019, and was drafted by the Samsung Lions as the second overall pick in the second round. He joined the KBO League 10 years later than his high schoolmates. In his first year in 2019, he played in 118 games and recorded a batting average of 262 (101 hits in 385 at-bats), seven homers, 36 RBIs, 43 runs and 15 steals with an OPS of .701. It was a career-high season.
He had high expectations for his starting shortstop position, but his performance in 2020 was not as impressive as he had a batting average of 228 (47 hits in 206 at-bats) and four homers and 28 RBIs in 64 games. He also had a batting average of 266 (32 hits in 155 at-bats) in 66 games in 2021, with four homers and 20 RBIs and an OPS of .611, showing no signs of rebounding. With the work-style problem, he had no more chances to play.
In the end, Lee Hak-joo, who lost ground at Samsung, was traded. Samsung sent Lee to the Lotte Giants ahead of the 2022 season and traded pitcher Choi Ha-neul for the 2023 third round of rookie nomination.
Lee Hak-joo also failed to establish himself at the Lotte Giants. He had a batting average of 27 (48 hits in 232 times at bat) in 91 games in 2022, three homers and 15 RBIs, and played in 104 games in 2023, but had a batting average of 290 (23 hits in 110 times at bat), three homers and 13 RBIs, and an OPS of 596.
This year, Kim Tae-hyung played in 43 games since taking over as Lotte’s head coach. He had a batting average of 263 (25 hits in 95 at-bats) with two home runs, four RBIs and an OPS of .609, and since the game against KT on July 12, he has been moved down to the second division and failed to return to the first division until the end of the season.
Lee Hak-joo and his classmates, who competed for shortstop in high school, hit the free agent jackpot in the KBO League. Oh Ji-hwan (LG), An Chi-hong (Hanwha), Huh Kyung-min (Doosan), and Kim Sang-soo (KT) are from high school.
Oh Ji-hwan signed a four-year, four-year, six-year, 12.6 billion-won jackpot contract in 2024 with two FA contracts with LG. An Chi-hong signed a four-year, 5.6 billion-won FA contract with Lotte in 2020 and signed a four-year, five-year, two-year, up to 7.2 billion-won FA contract with Hanwha prior to this season.
Huh Kyung-min signed a “four-year 6.5 billion + three-year 2 billion” contract with Doosan after the 2020 season, and after four years, he chose to opt out this time and became an FA. Kim Sang-soo signed a three-year 1.8 billion won FA contract with Samsung in 2019 and signed a second FA contract with KT for four years and 2.9 billion won ahead of the 2023 season. 메이저사이트
