Ryu Hyun-jin's 6-year, $36 million salary jumps from KBO League's top hitter to big leaguer

Lee Jeong-hoo (25), who dominated the KBO League and challenged the Major League Baseball (MLB), surpassed all of his seniors who had previously gone through the posting system and hit the 'jackpot'.

Local media such as MLB.com and The Athletic quoted sources on the 13th (Korean time) and said, “Lee Jung-hoo signed a six-year, $113 million (approximately 148.4 billion won) contract with San Francisco. “This contract includes an opt-out after four years,” the report said. If you declare to opt out, you can give up the remaining contract and enter the free agent (FA) market.

The San Francisco team is expected to formalize the contract with Lee Jung-hoo as soon as the medical test is completed.

When the official announcement is made, Lee Jung-hoo will become the 6th player in history to advance to MLB through the posting system in the KBO League, following Ryu Hyun-jin, Kang Jung-ho, Park Byeong-ho (currently KT Wiz), Kim Gwang-hyun (currently SSG Landers), and Kim Ha-seong (San Diego Padres).

As the son of Lee Jong-beom, the 'Son of the Wind' who dominated an era in the KBO League, Lee Jeong-hoo, who showed off his outstanding talent and raised expectations since his school days, was selected in the first round by Nexen Heroes (currently Kiwoom) in the 2017 rookie draft. Entered the professional stage.

Since his first year in the league, Lee Jeong-hoo has quickly risen to become a top hitter in the league thanks to his excellent contact ability and quick feet. In 2017, he had a batting average of 0.324, 2 home runs, 47 RBI, 12 stolen bases, 111 runs, and an OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) of 0.812.

It continued to evolve after that. He has been reborn as a complete hitter with both contact ability and slugging power.

In 2021, he won his first batting title with a batting average of 0.360, and last year, he swept the batting average (0.349), RBI (113), hits (193), on-base percentage (0.421), and slugging percentage (0.575) categories and won five batting crowns in the regular season. He even won the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award.

Lee Jung-hoo, who achieved a batting average of 0.340, 65 home runs, 515 RBI, 69 stolen bases, 581 points, and an OPS of 0.861 in 884 games in the KBO League, officially announced his challenge to MLB after the 2022 season and received a lot of interest from MLB clubs.

The recruitment battle for Lee Jeong-hoo, who was born in 1998 and is only in his mid-20s, was quite fierce. As multiple clubs became interested, his price also increased.

Local media predicted that Lee Jung-hoo would sign a 4-5 year contract worth a total of $60 million (about 78.8 billion won), but the size of his contract exceeded expectations.

Lee Jeong-hoo's contract size is the largest among players who went directly to MLB through the posting system.

The previous largest contract was in December 2012 when Ryu Hyun-jin signed a six-year, $36 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers. At the exchange rate at the time, it was around 39 billion won.

Until 2017, the structure was that the club that wrote down the largest posting amount had sole negotiating rights. At that time, the Dodgers succeeded in winning exclusive negotiating rights by offering a transfer fee of 25,737,737 dollars and 33 cents, and concluded the contract by offering a considerable amount.

The maximum number of fielders set by Ha-seong Kim when he signed with the San Diego Padres in January 2021 was easily exceeded. 메이저사이트 백링크

At that time, Ha-seong Kim signed a four-year, $28 million guaranteed contract. There was a mutual option for the fifth year, so if both parties agreed to extend the contract, they could receive up to $39 million over five years.

Kang Jung-ho, who became the first fielder to go directly from the KBO League to MLB, signed a 4+1 year contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates at the end of 2014 worth up to $16.5 million. His guaranteed amount was four years and $11 million.

At the end of 2015, Byung-ho Park signed a four-year contract with a total guaranteed amount of $12 million.

Even if the scope is expanded with Korean big leaguer free agent contracts, Lee Jeong-hoo still ranks second in total total.

The highest total of all time is Choo Shin-soo (now SSG), who signed a 7-year contract worth $130 million when he signed with the Texas Rangers in December 2013.

Compared to the average annual amount, Choo Shin-soo's is $18.57 million, which is less than Lee Jeong-hoo's $18.83 million.

Ryu Hyun-jin's four-year, $80 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays in December 2019 ranked third. This follows the five-year, $65 million contract Chan-ho Park signed with Texas in December 2001.

In terms of the average salary of a Korean big leaguer, the $20 million paid by Ryu Hyun-jin when he signed with Toronto is the largest. Lee Jeong-hoo is expected to rank second in average annual salary. 슬롯