Lee has been diagnosed with a torn labrum and will undergo season-ending surgery originally appeared in NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO – Jung Hoo Lee’s first season with the Giants is over.
Lee has a torn labrum in his left shoulder and will undergo season-ending surgery in the coming weeks, the Giants announced Friday. It suffered structural damage after hitting the center field fence last weekend, and a second opinion on Thursday confirmed that the labrum needs to be surgically repaired.
Lee said this is actually his second shoulder dislocation. He said he was disappointed but plans to come back strong. Through interpreter Justin Han, Lee said the first month in the big leagues was the “happiest moment of my baseball career.”
Lee signed a six-year, $113 million contract in the offseason, the largest the Giants have ever given a free agent position player. They were hopeful he could fix the center field defense, a weakness the past two seasons, and inject some much-needed athleticism.
Lee was named the leadoff hitter and started 37 games before being injured, batting .262 with a .641 OPS and two homers. He played solid defense in center field, and the Giants were thrilled that Lee didn’t appear to have any adjustment period from KBO to MLB. His bat-to-ball skills translated and the team was hopeful for a big summer and second semester.
Without Lee, Luis Matos will have the chance to become an everyday central defender. The 22-year-old is 4-for-12 since returning from Triple-A, with one home run and five RBI. He was shaky in center field the first two nights of the series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, but the team asked him to play deeper and he robbed Teoscar Hernandez of a home run on Wednesday.
