Despite injuries and some rough outfield play, Lee looks to rebound for first-year manager Tony Vitello.
The San Francisco Giants have a lot of work to do in the offseason. There's no doubt that first-year Giants manager Tony Vitello is spending time looking over his roster and seeing who's working out and who isn't at this point.
Outfielder Jung Hoo Lee has a big contract with the Giants. He was signed with the expectation that he could help not only in the outfield, but even provide some stellar numbers at the plate.
Lee played the first 162-game season in his career, which includes time playing in Japan. Lee finished the 2025 MLB season with a .293 batting average over the last 57 games for San Francisco last season. Lee also posted a .759 during that timeframe, too.
Lee missed most of the 2024 season after signing his big-money contract, undergoing season-ending surgery after suffering a torn labrum in his left shoulder.
When asked about the Giants' outfield situation at the recently completed General Managers Meetings, Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey didn't hold back.
"There's no question we have to be better in the outfield as a group," Posey told reporters, including Maria Guardado of MLB.com, last week. “It's something that we'll have to evaluate. We’re trying to get a coaching staff in place to have some of those talks with [Lee] about what he thinks are some adjustments he can make to improve.”
San Francisco wants to become relevant in the National League West Division again. Lee has to play a vital part in making this a reality.
Posey noted about Lee that the player has a sense of self-awareness about himself, whether on or off the field.
"I thought it was a really important year for him," Posey said. "Getting to know him a little bit, he's a very self-aware person. I'm sure he's analyzed his season and has started to think about certain parts of it that went well and certain parts that maybe didn't go as much as planned.
"I think there's probably a little bit of an adjustment to the physicality of a Major League season," Posey said. "He's somebody I'm really excited to see what this next year will look like because I think he's gonna be a guy that makes adjustments well."
Those adjustments cannot come soon enough for the Giants. Look for Lee to have a bounce-back season and, hopefully, lead San Francisco back into postseason play.