Ex-MLB prospect admits DUI charge in 2017

SEOUL, Nov. 14 (Yonhap) — Former major league prospect Lee Hak-ju has admitted to being charged with drunk driving in 2017, his South Korean club said Wednesday.

The Samsung Lions in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) said it contacted Lee, who is currently training in Okinawa, Japan, and confirmed that the infielder had received a DUI conviction when he was without a club in May 2017.

“We’ve got a confirmation from the player that he was charged with DUI in the past,” the KBO club said. “He was then stripped of his driver’s license and slapped with a fine. He reacquired his driver’s license after taking an educational program.”

Lee said he feels sorry about his irresponsible behavior in the past.

“I deeply regret what I’ve done in the past,” he said through the Lions. “I was guilty of misconduct while I was concerned about my career after leaving a Japanese independent baseball league team.”

Lee, 28, signed with the Chicago Cubs after graduating from a Seoul high school in 2009. But the shortstop was plagued by a series of injuries and never got past Triple-A. In 2016, he signed a minor league deal with the San Francisco Giants with an invitation to spring training but wasn’t called up to the big stage. Lee briefly played for the Tokushima Indigo Socks in the Shikoku Island League Plus in Japan last year.

Lee recently joined the Lions after he was picked second in the KBO draft for the 2019 season.

This file photo taken Sept. 10, 2018, shows Samsung Lions infielder Lee Hak-ju. (Yonhap)