I thought it was an easy double…

San Francisco Giants player Lee Jung-hoo achieved multiple hits, raising his batting average to .300 and OPS to over 1.000.

Lee Jung-hoo started as the third center fielder in the 2025 Major League Baseball spring game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on March 2 (Korea time) at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona.

He contributed with 2 hits in 3 at-bats, including a double, and 1 RBI. His spring training stats are 12 at-bats, 4 hits (.333 batting average), 1 home run, 2 RBIs, 3 runs scored, and OPS 1.134.

In the first inning, with one out and a runner on third, Lee Jung-hoo faced Dodgers starter Matt Sauer. After a ball on the first pitch, he swung wildly at an 85.3 mph slider, nearly losing his helmet. When another 85.1 mph slider came in on the third pitch, he connected perfectly with the barrel of the bat. It resulted in a hard-hit ball with a speed of 109.6 mph (176.4 km/h) flying as a line drive toward right field.

Right fielder Teoscar Hernández backtracked, initially turning left before pivoting right, but the ball had already passed him and rolled to the fence. The distance of the hit was 370 feet (112.8 m), with the right-center fence being 380 feet (115.8 m). It became an RBI double.

After the game, when Lee Jung-hoo mentioned that the double was hit like a bullet, he talked about the wind that blew at Camelback Ranch that day. He noted, “The wind was stronger than I expected. In the first inning, the wind was blowing extremely hard from right field to left field. So not just me but many players were rubbing their eyes and tearing up at the plate. I even wore sunglasses in my last at-bat.”

According to the Dodgers' game information, there was a wind blowing at 13 mph (20.9 km/h) that day, at a speed of 5.8 m/s. There were also moments of sudden strong wind. The swirling sand made it difficult to keep one’s eyes open.

Lee Jung-hoo explained, “At the moment of impact, I thought it was just an easy double. Because I hit it so well, with a good trajectory (launch angle 19 degrees). But because of the wind, the ball didn't carry. I thought it would be caught, but the ball's direction actually changed due to the wind. Initially, it should have curved toward Teoscar's left, but the strong wind caused it to veer in the opposite direction.”

If it weren't for the wind, it would have been a double that went over the right fielder's head (possibly hitting the fence), but I thought it would be caught because of the wind. However, the ball's direction changed slightly due to the wind, which startled both right fielder Teoscar and Lee Jung-hoo.

In the third inning, with one out and one runner on first leading 2-0, Lee Jung-hoo faced pitcher Sauer again. After a foul on the first pitch (89.5 mph cutter), he hit a single on the second pitch (82.8 mph splitter), creating a chance on first and second.

In his third at-bat in the fifth inning, after getting to two strikes, he was struck out due to a pitch clock violation. Lee Jung-hoo was substituted during the defensive play in the sixth inning.

Lee Jung-hoo, who recorded his first multi-hit game of the spring training, said, “Today, I hit 2 off-speed pitches for hits, and I want to place importance on the fact that I got hits off off-speed pitches. The first double was a slider, and the second hit was a changeup.”

After breaking a 9-month hiatus from competitive play, Lee Jung-hoo is gradually becoming accustomed to the pitchers' throws. He said, "I think the process is more important than the results right now, so I am continually swinging the bat. The results seem to be coming out well, so I’m okay with that."

Meanwhile, Kim Hye-seong of the Dodgers, who started as the eighth shortstop, hit a solo home run over the left-field fence in the fifth inning. It was his first home run of spring training. He contributed with 1 hit in 2 at-bats, plus 1 home run, 1 RBI, and 3 runs scored.

Additionally, after Lee Jung-hoo hit a double in the first inning, he and Kim Hye-seong met on second base during a pitching change with two outs and the bases loaded in the third inning, greeting each other with a hug, and chatted briefly during the pitching change.

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