Giants’ Jung Hoo Lee heats up
Jung Hoo Lee hit his first home run of the 2026 season on April 11 — a ball off a left‑hander’s sweeper that left the bat at 164 km/h — and his swing carried into a multi‑hit game the next day even though San Francisco lost 6–2. ( ) The homer helped extend a Giants lead during Friday’s win and the follow‑up multi‑hit night suggests he’s finding rhythm early in the season. ( )
Jung Hoo Lee opened his 2026 home run column on April 11, then followed it with another multi-hit game the next day as San Francisco tried to steady its lineup. (baseball-reference.com, starnewskorea.com) Lee went 2 for 4 with a double and a two-run homer in the Giants’ 6-3 win over Baltimore on Friday, and NBC Sports Bay Area reported the homer came in the seventh inning at Camden Yards. (rotowire.com, nbcsportsbayarea.com) Star News Korea reported Lee’s first homer of the season came off a left-hander’s sweeper and left the bat at 164 kilometers per hour, or about 101.9 miles per hour. The same report said he carried that swing into April 12 with another multi-hit game even as the Giants lost 6-2. (starnewskorea.com, starnewskorea.com) The timing stands out because Lee entered Sunday batting.174 with 8 hits in 46 at-bats, and his April 11 homer was his first through the Giants’ first 15 games. (baseball-reference.com, espn.com) San Francisco also entered April 12 at 6-9 after losses in 9 of its first 15 games, so production from a regular outfielder carries extra weight early in the National League West race. (espn.com, baseball-reference.com) Lee is in the third season of the six-year, $113 million contract he signed with the Giants in December 2023, a deal that included an opt-out after 2027. (mlb.com, baseball-reference.com) The Giants also shifted Lee off center field before 2026, with MLB.com reporting in March that the club expected him to play right field after he ranked in the 91st percentile in arm strength. (mlb.com) For now, the clearest number is 1: Lee’s first homer of 2026 arrived on April 11, and by April 12 he had turned it into a two-day stretch of hard contact. (starnewskorea.com, starnewskorea.com)
