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San Francisco Giants Receive Positive Injury Update on Center Fielder

The San Francisco Giants can breathe a sigh of relief after receiving a positive injury update on their starting center fielder.

Cameron Zunkel

Mar 1, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; San Francisco Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee (51) hits against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the first inning at Camelback Ranch-Glendale.
Mar 1, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; San Francisco Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee (51) hits against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the first inning at Camelback Ranch-Glendale. / Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images
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The regular season is right around the corner, and this is about the time when teams start making decisions on whether or not injured players will start on the IL.

Luckily for the San Francisco Giants, their starting center fielder just received some very positive injury news.

Jung Hoo Lee was scratched from his start in Saturday's spring training game against the Seattle Mariners with some discomfort in his back. Back injuries are never something to play around with, so it was more of a precaution to keep Lee out of the lineup.

On Sunday, manager Bob Melvin was able to offer more insight as to what the injury is, and how long the Korean center fielder will be out of game action.

Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle reported on X (formerly Twitter), Melvin said Lee's injury was not baseball related and he just slept on his back weird. He will, however, be held out for the next couple of days.

This is great news considering the 26-year-old played in just 37 games during his rookie season in 2024 due to a torn labrum.

In his rookie campaign, Lee slashed .262/.310/.331 with two home runs, eight RBI and 15 runs scored. The KBO Gold Glover also had a very low whiff percentage of 9.6% and strikeout rate of 8.2%. His ability to make contact when he swings makes him a big asset in the lineup.

With that, the Giants used him primarily as a leadoff hitter. However, San Francisco could go a different direction in their leadoff spot this year and slide Lee down to the three hole. This would allow him to bat with more people on base, and give him more opportunity to drive in runs.

Thus far in spring training, Lee has hit two home runs in 12 games played while hitting .300/.400/.567. His power numbers have spiked, he is still making consistent hard contact and he has scored as many runs as he has hits.

The Giants are hoping he can carry that into the regular season as they play in one of the toughest divisions in baseball.

Looking forward to opening day, FanGraphs has the outfielder projected to slash .288/.344/.421 with 12 home runs, 70 RBI while being worth 3.1 Wins Above Replacement. The .721 slugging percentage is predicted to lead the Giants, so it is easy to see why they might want him to bat in the middle of the order more.

Lee's back discomfort is definitely something San Francisco will monitor closely. For now, it is not expected to be serious and he will most likely be ready to contribute when game one of the regular season arrives.

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Cameron Zunkel
CAMERON ZUNKEL

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