KBO asks MLB to post star outfielder Lee Jung-hoo

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced Friday it has asked Major League Baseball (MLB) to post South Korean star Lee Jung-hoo and make the 25-year-old outfielder available for 30 big league clubs.

According to an industry source, Lee’s KBO club, the Kiwoom Heroes, submitted Lee’s medical records to the KBO on Wednesday. The KBO reviewed them before asking the MLB Commissioner’s Office to notify its clubs of Lee’s posting.

With the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday this week, MLB will likely begin the formal process until early December at the earliest, the source added.

Under an agreement between the KBO and MLB, once a KBO player is posted, any of the 30 MLB clubs can negotiate a deal with that player within a 30-day window.

The negotiating period begins at 8 a.m. Eastern Time (ET) the morning after MLB notifies its 30 clubs of the player’s availability and ends at 5 p.m. ET on the 30th day.

However, if the player can’t land a deal within that period, the player may not be posted again until after the following season. In Lee’s case, he can only be posted again after Nov. 1, 2024, if he is unable to find a team this time.

Lee, the 2022 KBO regular season MVP, has been heavily scouted by MLB clubs in the past several years. Known for his bat-to-ball skills and control of the strike zone, Lee has a career .340 batting average, the highest in KBO history among all players with at least 3,000 plate appearances.

The two-time batting champion has drawn 383 walks and struck out just 304 times in 884 games over his seven seasons.

Lee enjoyed one of the most productive offensive seasons by anyone in KBO history in 2022, leading the league in batting average (.349), hits (193), RBIs (113), on-base percentage (.421) and slugging percentage (.575) en route to capturing his first MVP award.

The San Francisco Giants and the New York Yankees are said to be interested in the 25-year-old, who is the son of KBO legend Lee Jong-beom. U.S. media reports have claimed as many as 20 MLB teams have also taken an interest in the Korean player.

The junior Lee is represented by the uber-agent Scott Boras.

The Heroes have previously sent three players to MLB via posting: infielders Kang Jung-ho, Park Byung-ho and Kim Ha-seong.

KBO teams receive a “release fee” if they lose a player to MLB through posting, depending on the guaranteed value of the player’s contract.

If the guaranteed value of the deal — not counting a signing bonus or incentives — is US$25 million or less, the release fee will be 20 percent of the contract. If the contract is worth between $25,000,001 and $50 million, the fee will be 20 percent of the first $25 million, plus 17.5 percent of any amount exceeding that $25 million.

If a player signs for more than $50 million, his former KBO team will receive 20 percent of the first $25 million ($5 million) and 17.5 percent of the next $25 million ($4,375,000), plus 15 percent of the amount exceeding $50 million.