Slugger Impresses at Batting Practice

The Yomiuri Giants’ Lee Seung-yup showed off his stuff at batting practice yesterday during the team’s training camp being held in Miyazaki-ken.

The Giants’ training camp started February 1 at the Konohana Dome ball field inside Sun Marine Stadium. Wearing the newly-designed Kyojin (Giant: the pet name for the Yomiuri ball club) uniform with orange color added, Lee started his training with one hour warm-up involving running and stretching.

All eyes were on Lee during batting practice that started at 2:00 p.m..

Lee had drawn the attention of the Japanese media by hitting 135 balls during a batting practice last month, an exceptional number for a foreign player. Lee again impressed his audience under the watchful gaze of Giants manger Hara Tatsunori by showing off precise and powerful swings during batting practice.

For 20 minutes or so, Lee’s bat connected dead-on with the centers of the balls thrown by a machine, a right-handed pitcher and a left-handed pitcher. Manager Hara then ordered the ball to be thrown off the plate, testing Lee’s ability to stretch out and hit the ball. Lee met his manager’s expectations by hitting the outside balls without fouling them off.

Later, Lee Seung-yup’s rival, first baseman Joe Dillon, did not seem to assimilate the fast ball speed. He showed much less ability to hit fastballs straight out. Before batting practice, each of the two rivals tried their hands at fielding ground balls at first base from their coach during open defensive drills.

While there is a talk in Japanese media of the possibility that Lee might be positioned in left field, Lee entered training camp with only a first baseman’s mitt, hinting that giving up his first base position is out of question.

uni@donga.com