SAN FRANCISCO — Jung Hoo Lee’s first season with the Giants has come to an end.
The Giants announced Friday that Lee suffered a tear in his left shoulder and will undergo season-ending surgery in the next two weeks. He suffered structural damage after colliding with the center field fence last weekend, and a second opinion on Thursday confirmed the lip needed to be surgically repaired.
He told me this was actually his second shoulder dislocation. He said he was disappointed, but planned to come back strong. Through translator Justin Hahn, Lee said the first extra month in the majors was “the happiest moment of my baseball career.”
Lee signed a six-year, $113 million contract in the offseason, the largest deal the Giants have ever offered to a free agent player. They hoped he could fix their central defence, a weakness the past two seasons, and inject some needed athleticism.
Lee was installed as the leadoff hitter and started 37 games before getting hurt, batting .262 with a .641 OPS and two homers. He played solid defense in center field, and the Giants were excited about the fact that Lee had no adjustment period from the KBO to the MLB. His batting skills translated, and the staff was optimistic about a big summer and second half.
Without Lee, Luis Matos will get a chance to become a regular midfielder. The 22-year-old is 4-for-12 since his return from Triple-A, with a homer and five RBI. He was shaky in center field the first two nights of the series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, but the staff asked him to play deeper and he robbed Teoscar Hernandez of a homer on Wednesday.
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