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| Lee Dae-ho poses during an interview with The Korea Times. / Courtesy of Patrick Bourgo |
YOKOHAMA, Japan ― Lee Dae-ho, the former SoftBank Hawks' slugging first baseman and designated hitter, fresh off his Japan Series MVP has just declared his intent to try to sign with a Major League Baseball (MLB) team this offseason.
Earlier this past season before a Hawks game in Yokohama, The Korea Times caught up with Lee and spoke with him about his experience playing in Japan, and the adjustments he needed to make playing in a new league.
Before moving to Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), Lee spent eleven seasons with the Lotte Giants in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), winning the Triple Crown in 2006 and 2010. Lee also won the regular season MVP award in 2010, and owns a .309/.395/.528 career slash line in the KBO, to go along with 225 home runs and 809 RBIs.
After 2011, he left Korea for Japan and played with the Orix Buffaloes for two seasons before joining the Hawks.
With the move to Japan, because of his success in the KBO and taking up a foreign player roster spot, Lee was aware that people would have high expectations. "I prepared a lot, especially as a foreign player, so people would be satisfied with my (statistical) performance," said Lee.
In addition to the statistical expectations, he would also have all new teammates, most of them being from a different country and speaking a different language.
When discussing the adjustments he needed to make in moving to NPB, Lee said, "Firstly, the most important thing I had to do to adjust was quickly get along with the team… I could not communicate in the language and I had a hard time communicating in general, so it was difficult for me to approach people." Nonetheless, despite the language barrier and cultural differences Lee managed to make a strong impression on his teammates.
When asked about Lee, Ex-MLB pitcher and then Hawks teammate, Igarashi Ryota said, "He's a great teammate and he looks very cheerful and always positive, but he's very hard on himself."
Igarashi continued, "Lee is also always very confident because he had such a great career in Korea and he has done so much here (Japan) that he knows what he can do. Now it is important that he does well, because when he is not doing well it's like the team can't get going."
The cheerful side of Lee, mentioned by Igarashi, can be seen before the game while stretching and warming up with his teammates. Before the game in Yokohama, Lee was joking with two of the Hawks other foreign imports, Jason Standridge and Dennis Sarfate.
However, despite this outward appearance, his personal expectations are incredibly high. In speaking about his role with the team, Lee said, "As a number five batter, and being one of the team's core batters, hitting .300, 30 home runs and 100 RBIs is something that I strongly would like to achieve." He came close, finishing the season hitting .282 with 31 home runs and 98 RBIs.
Another adjustment facing players joining a new league is related to differences in how the game is played. Despite similarities in style between Korean baseball and Japanese baseball, Lee talked about some of the differences he has noticed, "It's pretty similar, but Korean baseball has started to follow American baseball quite a bit. Korean baseball is focused more on power than small ball."
Lee continued, "In the past, Korea followed Japanese style baseball, and Japan is still playing that style of baseball, for example, in my opinion it's more defense oriented and focused on game situation drills."
Lee's experience of moving to a new league and being one of the "foreign" players has definitely left an impression on him.
Reflecting on this Lee said, "After having the experience of becoming a foreign player I wish that I had been more amiable and receptive to the foreign players while I was in Korea. After the experience of becoming a foreign player I better understand how they feel."
After a short pause, he added, "I have been thinking about that a lot."
Having played in Korea and Japan, Lee is now hoping to cross the Pacific to MLB. While he's looking to make the leap at a slightly older age ― 33 ― his attitude, work ethic and experience should help him make the necessary adjustments to find success there.
Patrick Bourgo is a Seoul-based baseball researcher and writer. Follow him on Twitter: @kballhistory.
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