Jung Hoo Lee's great catch in WBC proves that SF Giants position change will be fine

SF Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee is away playing for Team South Korea at the World Baseball Classic. Yet, he is continuing to prove that his position change to right field is probably going to be a good move for him.

Lee made a great catch in South Korea's recent game against Team Australia. He had to spring towards the gap and made a back-handed sliding catch. He secured the ball and the popped right up and fired off a throw to first base to try and double up the runner who had take a big lead off first base assuming the ball would get down. The play can be watched below:

Jung Hoo Lee continues to prove move to RF will be good for SF Giants

The Giants decided to move Lee to his new position after they signed Gold Glove winner Harrison Bader to play center field. San Francisco's outfield defense was poor last season to put it mildly, so moving Lee over to right field makes sense to try and give the team more coverage especially in Oracle Park's spacious outfield.

Lee has already shown in spring training that he should be able to handle right field just fine. Early in Cactus League play he made an impressive catch in foul territory and then fired a dart to home plate to get the runner tagging up at third.

While the Giants signed Lee ahead of the 2024 season to be their center fielder of the future, he took the news that he would be changing positions in stride. He even said he planned to reach out to popular former Giants outfielder Mike Yastrzemski to see if he could get some pointers on how to play Oracle Park's notoriously tricky right field.

It is well and good for Lee to make nice plays in Scottsdale or in a dome in Tokyo, but the true test of his transition will come on a windy night in San Francisco when he has to contend with the elements, chain-link fence, and brick wall in right field. He has the speed and baseball IQ to figure it out, but it may take time until he's a master out there.

Thankfully, Lee is also putting up some strong offensive numbers for Team South Korea as he has four hits in 13 at-bats. The Giants need him to be more than just solid defensively this season.

We will see how he looks in the regular season, but the early returns suggest Lee should be just fine in right field this season for the Giants.