SF Giants speedy outfielder has hit his stride lately at the plate

SF Giants speedy outfielder Jung Hoo Lee went through a prolonged slump at the plate this year. He has rebounded from that nicely while providing a huge boost to the lineup lately.

SF Giants speedy outfielder has hit his stride lately at the plate

Lee's 2025 season can be broken down into three parts. The first was in April, where he was one of the best hitters in baseball. Not surprisingly, the Giants were one of the best teams in baseball in the first month of the year with a 19-12 record.

Then, the left-handed bat hit a prolonged slump after that. An extremely low BABIP was partly to blame, and at some point, that poor luck was going to shift favorably.

Since July 1, Lee is hitting .311/.358/.450 (128 wRC+) with two home runs, 18 RBI, and 22 runs in 226 plate appearances. As his 11.9 percent strikeout rate during that time suggests, he remains a difficult hitter to strike out.

What has changed? It is hard to ignore that good things happen when Lee hits the ball the other way. There has been a subtle shift. Lee was hitting the ball the other way in 23.7 percent of bated-ball events through the first three months of the year. That number has increased to 27.9 percent since July 1.

The more notable shift is how he is hitting the ball. Lee's fly ball rate was 38.2 percent through June 30. Baseball has shifted toward pulling the ball in the air, and the lefty bat did plenty of that, but the results were not following. There is no one-size-fits-all approach for hitters. What works for one hitter will not always work for another.

Since July 1, Lee's fly ball rate has declined to 25.8 percent. What has taken its place? Ground balls. Lee's ground ball rate is up to 54.4 percent during that time. Ground balls are typically not great batted-ball events since they do not lead to extra-base hits. However, a high ground ball rate was characteristic of Lee's career in the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO), and a concern when he was coming over stateside.

That said, the results seem to be much more favorable, as the 27-year-old hitter is beginning to look like the one the Giants had hoped when they invested $113 million. Overall, he has put up a .746 OPS with eight home runs and 52 RBI in 570 plate appearances in his first full year in the majors.

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