A columnist for The Athletic in the U.S., Borden served as general manager of the Cincinnati Reds and Washington Nationals in the past. After leaving the club, Borden is promoting his own view of baseball as a columnist. This time, he ranked rookies in each major league. After the American League on Thursday, he lined up the best rookie players in the National League, and Lee ranked ninth among the rookie players. He was the fifth among fielders to be mentioned.
“After seven seasons in the KBO league, Lee signed a six-year, $113 million contract with San Francisco during the last offseason. Lee recorded a batting average of 0.262 and an on-base percentage of 0.310 as of Tuesday, displaying better-than-average defensive performance as a center fielder. With hits in the last six consecutive games, Lee has tied for first in the number of hits in his team,” Borden said.
“In the percentile, his throwing ability is 97 percent and his sprint speed is 84 percent. The most impressive part is his ratio of swinging and striking out in the 99 percentile.” Lee emphasized his outstanding strengths in all fielders in the Major League, which cannot be explained by his batting average and number of hits.
Lee’s batting average of 0.262 and on-base percentage of 0.310 in this season fell short of expectations, but his performance is not necessarily sluggish considering the San Francisco Giants’ situation and the changing circumstances of the league. Among the five hitters who met the stipulated number of at-bats in his San Francisco team, Lee ranked second in batting average and on-base percentage and fourth in OPS. This year’s Major League Baseball is the all-time pitching and hitting season, in which the overall OPS in the league stands at 0.698, as of Tuesday. Despite the difficulties facing batters, Lee continues to prove his contact capability. What Borden paid attention to was his contact capability.
“I have never felt more confident that a batter with an OPS of 0.640 will rebound,” Grant Briceby of the same The Athletic said on Thursday. “I am not sure whether Lee will be able to hit .300 this season, but I think he will be able to achieve his expected batting index of 0.288 with an on-base percentage of 0.327 with an extra-base percentage of 0.419.” As a center fielder, he boasts solid range and shoulders. It is also worth noting that his batting index almost matches that expected by ZiPS (a baseball forecasting system devised by Dan Zimbowski) ahead of the opening of the season. “This is not a problem, but a solution,” Lee said in a positive prediction.
Lee Jung-hoo did not play in the game against the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday. He was hit in the left foot by a foul ball at the last at-bat against Colorado on Tuesday, but the pain reportedly continued until Sunday morning. However, he decided not to take a serious injury that would require him to be on the injured list, but to take a day off first.
“I have argued for many years that players from other professional baseball leagues should not be granted the status of Rookie of the Year, even considering the service time,” Borden wrote. “However, I mentioned them because they are considered rookies by regulation.”
The player he gave the highest evaluation to was Shota Imana of the Chicago Cubs. “Imana is a leader in the competition for the Rookie of the Year in the National League and the best starting pitcher in the Major League. She deserves the Cy Young Award in the National League,” Borden said. “Other hitters have the batting average of 0.140 with his four-seam fastball. He has the batting average of 0.214 splitters.” Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Los Angeles Dodgers ranked third.토토사이트
Among pure rookies with no experience in the big leagues, Jared Jones (Pittsburgh Pirates) was listed as the best. Jones, who was mentioned as the runner-up overall, has a 2.63 ERA and 0.780 WHIP (allowed to get on base per inning) with 52 strikeouts over the past 41 innings.
Among fielders, Michael Bush (Cubs) was named the best rookie. He is ranked fourth in the top 10. Bush’s seven homers and 19 RBIs are the best among rookie players in the National League. Jackson Merrill (San Diego Padres), who made his Major League debut as an outfielder instead of shortstop, was included in Boden’s top 10 list, ranking fifth overall and second in fielders. The remaining four players are as follows.