Reporter Lee Dae-ho = Lee Jung-hoo (24, Kiwoom Heroes), the 2022 league best player (MVP) who won 5 KBO League batting crowns, officially declared his advance to the American Professional Baseball Major League (MLB).
On the 19th, Lee Jung-hoo visited the Gocheok Sky Dome club office in Guro-gu, Seoul and conveyed his intention to the club.
Lee Jung-hoo, who joined in 2017, will fill the 7th season, which is the qualification for overseas advancement through the posting system (private competitive bidding), if he plays until next season (2023).
This is the first time that Lee Jung-hoo, who has consistently expressed his intention to advance overseas, officially announced his intention to challenge the big leagues to the club.
Lee Jung-hoo, who has been active with a batting average of 0.324 since 2017, the first year of his joining, is a league representative hitter who has hit a career batting average of 0.342 for 6 seasons until this year.
He ranks first in batting average among batters with over 3,000 at bats, the KBO’s career batting average standard.
He played in 142 games this season and swept first place in five categories, batting average (0.349), hits (193), RBI (113 runs), on-base percentage (0.421), and slugging percentage (0.575).
An official from the Kiwoom club said, “We support Lee Jung-hoo’s willingness to challenge and hope that he will achieve good results next year.” 메이저사이트
Lee Jung-hoo, who proved the best accuracy in the league right after entering the professional league, showed his will to advance overseas early on.
Lee Jung-hoo has the option of completing the 7th season and challenging the overseas stage through the posting system, or leaving as a free agent (FA) after completing the 9th season.
If you use the posting system, you can go abroad two years earlier than the free agent, but when you return to the KBO League later, you must return to your original team and digest 4 seasons to qualify as a free agent.
Lee Jung-hoo decided that it would be better for him to challenge even a little earlier, and notified the club that he would challenge for the big leagues through the posting system.
It is unlikely that the Kiwoom club, which has withheld an official answer by ending its business in 2022, will reject Lee Jung-hoo’s request.
Kiwoom sent three players to MLB through the posting system, including Jung-ho Kang (2014), Byeong-ho Park (2015), and Ha-seong Kim (2020), and has never refused a player’s posting request.
This is because it is judged that it is better to send a player through posting and receive a posting fee from the MLB club than to keep the player for two years.
According to the current posting system regulations, a player can freely negotiate with 30 clubs for 30 days after the posting announcement by the Major League Secretariat.
The posting fee to be paid by major league clubs to the KBO member team varies according to three criteria: less than $25 million in player guaranteed amount, $25 million to $50 million, and more than $50 million.
The highest amount posted by a Korean in history is $25,737,737.33 recorded by Ryu Hyun-jin (35, current Toronto Blue Jays), who left the Hanwha Eagles and joined the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2013.