Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee was scratched from Saturday’s Cactus League contest due to back discomfort, and with the issue still bothering him 48 hours later, he’ll undergo an MRI, manager Bob Melvin revealed to reporters (link via Justice Delos Santos of the San Jose Mercury News). He’ll then have a followup with the team’s medical staff. Melvin anticipates having more information for the public tomorrow.
Lee, 26, signed a six-year, $113MM contract with the Giants after a terrific start to his professional career in the Korea Baseball Organization. He played in 37 games last year in his MLB debut and hit .262/.310/.331 with a pair of homers and some of the best contact skills in the sport (8.2% strikeout rate). Lee played 306 innings in center and drew average marks from Statcast with slightly below-average grades from Defensive Runs Saved. A shoulder injury suffered when colliding with the wall in trying to haul in a deep drive off Jeimer Candelario’s bat ended Lee’s rookie season; he suffered a dislocation and a torn labrum, necessitating surgery.
In his return to the Giants’ lineup this spring, the former KBO standout has looked excellent. He’s appeared in a dozen games and tallied 35 plate appearances with a .300/.400/.567 slash. Lee has homered twice and drawn four walks (11.4%).
Time will tell whether the issue proves serious enough for a trip to the injured list. The Giants initially indicated that Lee was going to miss a game or two not because of a back injury suffered during a game but rather sleeping on it in awkward fashion. Sending him for an MRI would suggest there’s something potentially more worrisome at play.
If Lee does need to miss any time, the Giants have options in center. Luis Matos and Grant McCray are both plenty capable at the position. Matos, 23, is a former top prospect who’s capable of playing all three outfield spots. He logged 19 games in center for the Giants last year. McCray played 37 games in center during his rookie season in 2024. Both young outfielders struggled greatly against big league pitching, but both have had strong performances this spring. McCray is hitting .314/.429/.514 with a homer and four steals in 42 plate appearances. Matos is batting .362/.375/.532 with a pair of homers in 48 plate appearances. Whoever lines up in center field will be flanked by left fielder Heliot Ramos and right fielder Mike Yastrzemski.
You gotta be absolutely shi*ting me
Hopefully it was just a bad mattress …
Rendon part 2? Not good.
Worst news of the year.
Don’t hyperbolize too early in the year, there’s a strong correlation to jinxing your team.
If you subscribe to superstitio-analytics, that is.
You’re kidding!
One of the worst contracts in Giants history. Even if healthy, he doesn’t deserve that kind of money. That he slept in an awkward position? Nobody believes that. One of Farhan’s great signings. Genius.
sf fan—
Go back to sleep.
Pete’s View
I don’t agree with sf fan, but nor would it shock me if Matos passed Lee and Yaz on the depth chart.
sf fan, if you feel the sky is falling, then get back under your rock
Really “jung” him out to dry with that comment.
You are entitled to your opinion, but your credibility will be judged against how much money you have paid into the team to make that opinion.
sf fan, So I guess you have a talent that even the most knowledgeable baseball experts don’t have; the ability to know before hand that a contract is one of the worst in a team’s’ history.
I wouldn’t guess whether it’s good or bad only 1/6th into it. My mother didn’t raise me to look like a fool by guessing about something that no one can know, and looking stupid if I’m wrong. But you go on ahead….
These international signings seem to never work out for the giants, at least for position players Lucius Fox, Kenzie Tanaka and I’m sure there are others I’m not thinking of.
Yeah, that Pablo Sandoval signing was a real disaster. Lucius Fox, like many prospects, didn’t develop as hoped. And please, Kensuke Tanaka was a minor league signing. Yeah what a disaster.
Are you suggesting, since you believe the international signing never work out, that the Giants should just give them up. Maybe they should just release Josuar De Jesus González, unanimously ranked in the top 2, and some believed the #1 prospect, since the Giants never seem to get it right.
Now that he is in MLB he apparently caught the “bad oblique” virus.
Make HGH legal
I’m sure he doesn’t want this either; hope he recovers soon
okay, this is getting annoying.
for you or for the person who actually sustained the injury?
For me, he was given $100M to not play baseball
And how much of that was yours? You don’t even pay a few bucks to support this site – now that’s annoying.
Hopefully it’s nothing. Lee has been having a great spring!
Spring Performance: A+
Box Spring Performance: F
Someone get him a waterbed.
Just a bamboo mat on the floor should suffice. My back has never felt better.
Comment of the day, slowcurve!
JHL is starting to look like a paper tiger
lol. Nah. Ultra negative folks are just looking like ultra negative folks.
I’m sure it’s nothing. Sounds like nothing
Did the giants medical staff overcorrect after Correa or something?
As a middle aged man I can confirm, sleep position related back injuries are a thing and they suck.