Devil Agent’ Scott Boras (71) joined hands with Lee Jung-hoo (25 Kiwoom Heroes). Boras is called a devil by the club, but is evaluated for raising the value of players better than anyone else. How far will he really raise the value of Lee Jung-hoo?
Boras Corporation announced on its official SNS on the 25th (Korean time) that it had recruited Lee Jung-hoo as a member of the agency. 메이저놀이터
On this day, Lee Jung-hoo was with Scott Boras, his father, LG Twins coach Lee Jong-beom, and mother Jeong Yeon-hee, at the Boras Corporation office in Los Angeles, California.
After finishing this season, Lee Jung-hoo will challenge the US major league stage. In December of last year, after the end of the 2023 season, the club conveyed its intention to challenge the major leagues through the posting system. The Kiwoom club also decided to respect the will and will of the player after internal discussions.
He has already established himself as the best hitter in Korea. Participated in 142 games in the 2022 season, batting average 0.349 (193 hits in 553 bats), 23 homers, 113 RBIs, on-base percentage 0.421, slugging percentage 0.575 OPS 0.996 marked.
He achieved the splendid achievement of 5 batting crowns (batting average, hits, RBIs, on-base percentage, slugging percentage) last season, and won the regular season MVP and Golden Glove (outfielder category).
It is a very familiar name to Korean fans. In the past, Boras worked with Ryu Hyun-jin (Toronto Blue Jays), Choo Shin-soo (SSG Landers), and Park Chan-ho (retired). Based on his excellent negotiating skills, he led them to large-scale contracts.
In this Stove League, free agent (free agent) shortstop Xander Bogarts signed a very large long-term contract. It was a big deal with San Diego, totaling $280 million over 11 years. In addition, the contract of Brandon Nemo with the New York Mets (8 years, $162 million) and Japanese outfielder Masataka Yoshida with the Boston Red Sox (5 years, $90 million) were also the work of Boras. Recently, he led Shim Jun-seok (19, Deoksu High School), who was called “super high school-level prospect,” to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Of course, this season’s performance is also important for a good contract. Lee Jung-hoo receives an annual salary of 1.1 billion won this year. Lee Jung-hoo is the first to sign a single-year annual salary contract of more than 1 billion won, excluding special cases such as FA contracts and returning to overseas players. The best scenario is to conquer the KBO stage this season and advance to the United States. Of course, many major league scouts are expected to pay attention to Lee’s every move throughout the season.
Attention is also focused on whether or not he will set a new record for the highest contract ever signed by a Korean major leaguer. The previous record is held by Ryu Hyun-jin. When Ryu Hyun-jin entered the big leagues in the 2013 season, he entered the Los Angeles Dodgers on a six-year contract worth $36 million. In addition, in the 2015 season, Kang Jung-ho signed a 4-year, $11 million contract, in the 2016 season, Park Byung-ho signed a 4-year, $12 million contract, in the 2020 season, Kim Gwang-hyun signed a 2-year, $8 million contract, and in the 2021 season, Kim Ha-seong signed a 4-year, $28 million contract. stepped on the big league stage.
In fact, it seems that Lee Jung-hoo will write a new record. Along with his outstanding skills, major league clubs are not hesitating to sign large long-term contracts. Yoshida, who is considered to have a similar style to Lee Jung-hoo, was also able to agree on a long-term contract with Boston in this atmosphere.
Lee Jung-hoo will move to the Kiwoom spring camp in February and join the national team camp in the middle of the year. Attention is already focused on his showcase, whether he will succeed on the world stage through the World Baseball Classic (WBC) tournament to be held in March.