If you had to name the happiest person in the Korean baseball world right now, it would be Lee Jung-hoo.
Former LG Twins coach Lee Jong-beom (54) is the head of the “Wind Family,” whose son Lee Jung-hoo (26, San Francisco Giants) and son-in-law Ko Woo-seok (26, San Diego Padres) have both reached the major leagues, the dream stage of baseball. Following Lee Jung-hoo’s six-year, $113 million (KRW 14.87 billion) megaton contract with the Giants at the end of last year, his son-in-law, Ko Woo-seok, signed a two-year, $9.4 million (KRW 12.3 billion) entry-level deal with the Padres on April 4 with just over seven minutes left before the deadline for this post.
“I’m very surprised and happy to see my son and son-in-law on the world’s biggest stage,” said Lee Jong-beom, but added, “Others say that there is only a flowery road ahead of me and my family, but it’s not a flowery road, it’s just the first step on the road of destiny. Whether it’s Jung-hoo or Woo-seok, it’s important to quickly adapt to the team from spring training and be recognized to survive the fierce internal competition.”
Jung-hoo won the Rookie of the Year award in 2017
His first year as a professional, and was named the regular season MVP in 2022 after leading the KBO in batting average, hits, RBIs, slugging percentage, and on-base percentage. His 0.340 career batting average in the KBO also surpassed Jang Hyo-jo (0.331), 안전놀이터 who had held the top spot for 30 years. When Lee first started playing professionally after graduating from Whimungo, he was known as the “grandson of the wind,” but now Lee Jong-beom is known as “Lee Jung-hoo’s father. “It’s natural,” Lee said. Jung-hoo has always worked harder than me and others to achieve results. He’s been playing professionally for seven years after high school and has established his own brand of baseball, which I admire from the sidelines.”
“His routine is the same now as it was when he first started playing professionally, he gets up early in the morning and has a set routine until he gets home, and that’s been the same for seven years, and he’s built his own brand of baseball, which is striking out as little as possible, getting on base a lot, and never losing his focus. There’s very little I’ve helped him with technically.”
With Lee’s rise to the major leagues, Jong-beom’s comment on a broadcast program a few years ago that he would “never make it to the major leagues” has recently resurfaced. “At the time, I thought he would be more successful in Japan because his power was weak,” Jong-beom said. “But as he trained with weights in the pros, his power improved, and that’s when the major leagues showed interest, and he started to show interest in the major leagues after the Tokyo Olympics.” Jung-hoo has far exceeded his father’s expectations.
After signing with the Giants
Lee told Jung-hoo, “I experienced Japanese baseball when I was your age, so you shouldn’t be afraid. Don’t be intimidated by big major leaguers, and always be humble and approach your teammates first to talk to them and integrate into the team,” Lee said.
On his son-in-law Go Woo-seok’s entry into the major leagues, Lee Jong-beom said, “I was surprised when he suddenly got an offer after LG won the championship this year, but as a result, I’m happy that they went to the U.S. together.” “He has a good personality and good skills, so if he doesn’t get shaken by the external environment and just shows his composure, we can expect good results,” he said.
“Woo-seok got to know Jung-hoo when he was selected as a youth representative, and he often came to our house. He had a good personality and was good at baseball. I think my wife (Jung Yeon-hee) saw him better than I did, but who would have thought that Woo-seok would go to the major leagues with me?”
Coincidentally
The San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres are both in the National League West and will face each other numerous times during the regular season. When asked who he would root for if his son and son-in-law were to go head-to-head, Lee threw up his hands and said, “Please don’t ask me that.”
Lee Jong-bum said that watching the signing process for this milestone made him appreciate his wife, Jung Yeon-hee, all over again. Jung, who is one year younger than Lee Jong-bum, raised Lee Jung-hoo strictly from the time he started playing baseball in elementary school, saying, “He’s Lee Jong-bum’s son, so he has to do better.” From a young age, he was inundated with interviews, but he turned them down because he didn’t want to be seen as a student athlete.
“I didn’t realize it when I was a player, but watching my son play baseball made me realize how hard it is to be behind the scenes. It’s not me who raised him to be a good baseball player, it’s my wife. I just advised him on what not to do based on my experience as a baseball senior. This time, my wife will be based in the U.S. and will help Jung-hoo and Woo-seok adjust. I’ll be traveling back and forth between Korea and the U.S. for work.”
Unlike Sun Dong-yeol, Lee Kang-cheol, and others who built the Hattae dynasty together
Lee, who single-handedly dominated Korean professional baseball during his playing days, 파워볼사이트 seems to have some regrets about his own leadership.
“My role is to help Jung-hoo adjust, but if I get the chance, I’d like to learn American advanced baseball, even if it’s unpaid, and even if it’s not this year, I’ll take my time. I’ll do my best in my own way, without being impatient, without looking around, and if I do that, the results will come later. Like Jung-hoo, my baseball is still a work in progress.”
