SURPRISE, Ariz. — Jung Hoo Lee doesn’t quite have his swagger back. Not all of it.
The San Francisco Giants’ Cactus League opener against the Texas Rangers represented Lee’s first game since May 12, 2024, the day that Lee barreled into the wall at Oracle Park and suffered a season-ending shoulder injury. In the grand scheme of the season, the Giants’ 6-1 win over the Rangers counts for nothing. For Lee, his abbreviated afternoon provided him with a step in the right direction.
“I can’t say at the moment that I’m 100 percent confident playing offense and defense right now,” Lee said through team interpreter Justin Han. “I’m putting a lot of effort … into what I’m doing right now on the field, trying to help the team out. Hopefully, I get to the field when I’m 100 percent confident.”
Afternoons over the next week such as this one will certainly help in the confidence department. Batting in the three-hole, Lee impressed on both sides of the ball in his first game in nearly 300 days. At the plate, Lee roped a 105.1 mph single on the very first pitch he saw, sharing with reporters that he planned on swinging at the first pitch he saw today.
“I wanted to check on my swing today and see if my hands were on time,” Lee said. “Luckily, I did get the hit. It was all about if I was late, if I was fast, if I was going in the right direction, if my mechanics were okay.”
In the field, Lee tracked down Evan Carter’s deep drive to left-center field just shy of the warning track. As Lee ran at full speed towards the wall, manager Bob Melvin admitted that he was reminded of the injury that ended Lee’s rookie year nine months prior.
“It was the same spot,” Melvin said. “I even said something to (Ryan Christenson). I almost was like, ‘Slow down, slow down.’ I certainly didn’t want to see him come up against the wall. He doesn’t have that in him. He was going to go get it. It was a nice play that he made look easy.”
Lee’s second plate appearance of the afternoon won’t make any of Lee’s personal highlight tapes. On a 3-2 count, the Rangers’ Jack Leiter threw Lee a payoff slider down in the dirt. Lee not only swung at the offering but awkwardly contorted his body and lost his helmet in the process. All in all, Lee finished his first game 1-f0r-3.
“It’s tough for anybody who’s been out as long as he has to see every pitch really well,” Melvin said. “First pitch, he gets a base hit. Then, maybe expanded a little bit, but you see a lot of that in spring training. Makes a really good play on the first ball hit out to left-center field. You look up and your eyes tell you he’s already at full sprint. I think it was a successful day for him.”
Huff makes early case for Opening Day roster
Prior to January, the only team that Huff had ever known as a professional was the Texas Rangers. The Rangers drafted Huff in the seventh round of the 2016 MLB Draft, and Texas’ first-base dugout on Saturday was filled with people he’d once called teammates. He was happy to see familiar faces, from players to coaches to clubhouse attendants.
Once the Giants’ Cactus League opener began, the relationships Huff built in Texas took a backseat. His job was to perform — and perform he did.
Huff not only hit the Giants’ first home run of Cactus League play — a 422-foot no-doubter to center field — but he became the team’s first player to challenge and win a call with the automatic ball-strike (ABS) system that will be in effect this spring.
In the top of the first inning, right-hander Landen Roupp threw a 95 mph sinker that appeared to hit the bottom of the zone, but home plate umpire John Bacon called the pitch a ball.
Roupp subtly grimaced, suggesting he thought the pitch was a strike. Huff shared the same thought, and tapped his helmet twice to signal he wanted a challenge. The jumbotron at Surprise Stadium showed an animated replay of the pitch barely clipping the zone and the pitch was changed from a ball to a strike.
The ABS system giveth for Huff, but it also taketh away. Rangers catcher Kyle Higashioka challenged a call during Huff’s second plate appearance, flipping a ball to a strike. When the call was overturned, the Rangers’ bench wasn’t afraid to have some fun at their old teammate’s expense. Huff, though, did draw a walk in the end.
“Oh, I hate it,” Huff said of being on the other side of a call. “I was looking at the whole dugout. They were laughing. I knew it clipped, and I knew they were going to say something.”
Melvin announces first slate of starters
Before Saturday’s game, Melvin announced his first rotation of starters.
Logan Webb will start on Sunday against the Reds at Scottsdale Stadium and Hayden Birdsong will piggyback from there.
For Monday’s split squad games, Justin Verlander will start at home against the Rockies while Mason Black will start on the road against the Angels. Robbie Ray gets the call on Tuesday against the A’s and Jordan Hicks goes on Wednesday against the Cubs.
Melvin said Kyle Harrison is not part of the first rotation because he is a week behind schedule, adding that Harrison got sick and “there were a lot things leading up into camp that set him back a little bit as far as his bullpens go.”