Korean slugger 'honored' to be batting cleanup
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Lee Dae-ho / Yonhap
It's a position that comes with a burden of responsibility, but South Korean slugger Lee Dae-ho would want nothing less than to keep hitting in the cleanup spot for the national team.
And after hitting a two-run home run in South Korea's 10-1 victory over the Dominican Republic at the Premier 12 in Taiwan on Tuesday, Lee, the 2015 Japan Series MVP, may stay there a while.
"It's an honor to be in the cleanup spot, and I think it's an important position where I have to do the country proud," the designated hitter said after the game at Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium. "Before each game, I feel a lot of pressure that I have to deliver the goods. But I know I have to overcome that, and I've come here to help the team."
Lee's resurgence at the plate -- he added an RBI single in the eighth -- is a welcoming development for South Korea, which was shut out by Japan 5-0 in the tournament opener last Sunday.
And through the first six innings against the Dominican Republic, it was shaping up to be another futile night for South Korea. Starter Luis Perez, a career minor leaguer, limited South Korea to a single over six scoreless innings with five strikeouts, as the Dominican Republic opened a 1-0 lead in the bottom fifth.
Yet manager Miguel Tejada pulled his southpaw after only 66 pitches and went to the bullpen to begin the seventh. That's when Lee and the rest of the South Korean lineup woke up.
Francisco Rondon issued a leadoff walk and was lifted after getting a groundout. Miguel Fermin came on to face Lee, who belted a 1-0 offering over the left field wall to put South Korea ahead 2-1.
"I wasn't trying to hit a home run," he said. "Since we were trailing 1-0, I just wanted to keep the rally going and hit one on the barrel. I was lucky the ball left the park."
The slugger's bomb sent a jolt through the rest of the lineup. After one out in the eighth, South Korea torched the Dominican bullpen for six straight hits to put up a five-spot on the board, with Lee getting in on the act with a run-scoring single.
South Korea added three more runs in the ninth for good measure, completing a rout that didn't seem to be in the offing at the start of the game.
Lee, 33, is fresh off his most successful Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) season with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. Lee was named the Japan Series MVP as he helped the Hawks to their second straight championship, hitting two homers with eight RBIs in the five-game victory over the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. In the regular season, Lee established NPB career highs of 31 homers and 98 RBIs in 141 games.
On the strength of these gaudy numbers, Lee opted out of his contract with the Hawks and declared his intent to pursue a major league career as a free agent.
Lee had 225 home runs in 11 seasons in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) and 98 home runs in four years in the NPB. He is expected to draw interest from clubs in need of right-handed pop, though his age and lack of defensive skills at first -- Lee was a pitcher in high school and played some third base earlier in his pro career -- may discourage some others.
He took a pitch to his right hand during the Japan Series and admitted Wednesday he's still feeling some pain.
It clearly wasn't severe enough to keep him from going deep.
"I felt much better than I did against Japan, and I swung the bat with more confidence," Lee said. "We were struggling offensively but finally got it going today. Hopefully, we will have an easier time from here on." (Yonhap)