ethernetacademy.netKiwoom Heroes’ Lee Ju-hyung (22) is flying high after his transfer.
Lee Joo-hyung donned the Kiwoom jersey in a three-way trade between LG and Kiwoom on March 29. He was included as one of the key players in the trade that sent Kim Dong-gyu, a 2024 first-round rookie pick, in exchange for Choi Won-tae.
A highly touted prospect who graduated from Gyeongnam High School and joined the LG Twins with the 13th overall pick in the second round of the 2020 Rookie Draft. A utility player who can play all positions in the outfield, he is a five-tool player with quick feet, finesse, and power. He had the advantage of being a reserve who was discharged in February.
Since his arrival from Kiwoom, he’s taken over as the starting outfielder and has hit the ground running.
In eight games, he’s 11-for-30 (.367) with two home runs, six RBIs and five runs scored. Of his 11 hits, nearly half of them are long balls. Has a 7-for-7 on-base percentage and a 4-for-6 slugging percentage. On the 29th, his first game after the trade, he recorded his first hit since the trade in the third inning against Buchanan. On the 30th, he hit his first career triple against Baek Jung-hyun in the sixth inning for Samsung Electronics.
Kiwoom headed into the Jamsil game full of confidence.
On the first day at Chinjung LG Electronics, he had a hit and a walk for the third consecutive game. On the 2nd, he recorded his first multi-hit game since joining the team with a double and a hit.
On the 3rd, Lee Ju-hyung, who was promoted to the fifth spot in the lineup, pulled a Kelly pitch in the first inning for a towering two-run home run. His first career home run. In the third inning, he slid a single to left field, extending his hitting streak to five games with two consecutive multi-hit games.
After hitting a single in the first inning of the Changwon NC game on the 4th, Lee went hitless on the 5th, ending his six-game hitting streak. The next day, however, he erased the previous day’s no-hitter with a 3-for-3 performance, including a two-run homer off Song Myung-ki in the NC game on the 6th.
Amazing performance day after day. Already, the phrase “the LG effect” has emerged, meaning that when a player leaves LG, his potency explodes.
This is not the case with Lee Ju-hyung. Usually, the ‘post-LG effect’ refers to players like Park Byung-ho and Kim Sang-hyun who hadn’t been playing for a long time and then blossomed after transferring.
Lee Ju-hyung is a young prospect who has never been given a consistent opportunity. He had just finished his military service earlier this year, and everyone knew he was going to break out. LG coach Lee Ho-joon was so impressed with Lee’s perfect hitting mechanics that he ordered him to “not change his batting form without me.” However, there was no room for him in LG’s lineup.
Moon Sung-joo, Park Hae-min, and Hong Chang-ki were the outfielders, and Kim Hyun-soo was the designated hitter. Shin Min-jae took over at second base this season.
Kiwoom’s Lee Ju-hyung greeted the LG players before the game.
Still, LG recognized Lee’s potential and called him up twice this season. He stayed with the first team for a month from May 25 and for 23 days from July 6. However, it was hard for him to show his true potential as a one-hit wonder.
Kiwoom’s season coincided with Lee Jung-hoo’s injury.
He was about to enter the major leagues as a post player after this season. They needed a ‘post Lee Jung-hoo’.
This is why they sacrificed the present of Choi Won-tae to secure the future of Lee Joo-hyung. Naturally, as soon as he arrived, he was given the middle infield spot vacated by Lee Jung-hoo. The guaranteed start with the next at-bat gave wings to the Infinite Fortune prospect. He’s been making waves with his winning ways.먹튀검증
If he could have been a starter for LG, he could have had a breakout season. But with Winnau needing results this year, they couldn’t risk the present for the future. Furthermore, it was only because of Lee’s future value that they were able to sign a homegrown starter during the season, which was impossible.
In that sense, Lee’s post-trade improvement, which was expected to be good in the first place, should be seen as a positive outcome of a win-win trade. The phrase “de-LG effect” doesn’t seem to be quite right in this case.