Lee Jae-hee (24) of the Samsung Lions, who changed his pitching form and became a must-win group by using Shohei Ohtani (31) of the Los Angeles Dodgers as his role model. However, his injury was hampered when he was trying to establish himself in the first division.메이저놀이터

An official from the Samsung Lions said on the 29th, "Lee Jae-hee was found to have 70-80% damage to the internal ligament of his right elbow after a hospital examination," adding, "He will undergo ligament bonding surgery after scheduling it in the future."

According to the club, Lee Jae-hee felt an abnormality in his right elbow in the game against the NC Dinos at home on the 25th. On this day, he took the mound at the top of the seventh inning with two outs and runners on the second and third bases when his team was leading 7-5. He gave up a walk to the first batter, Do Tae-hoon, but handled Chun Jae-hwan with a ground ball to shortstop. He also handled all three batters, Kim Joo-won, Park Min-woo, and Son Ah-seop, with misfires in the eighth inning.

He won his fourth hold of the season, but at that time, Lee Jae-hee threw a ball of 142-143 kilometers per hour against Son Ah-seop, the last batter. It was a concern because it reached 148 kilometers in the previous inning. Eventually, he felt something wrong with his elbow and was canceled from the first team entry on the 26th, a day later.

Afterwards, Lee was examined at two hospitals in Daegu and two in Seoul. As a result, he was found to have 70 to 80 percent damaged ligaments inside his elbow, which led to Tommy John surgery. "We will also remove bone fragments of his elbow during the surgery," the club said. Considering the duration of his rehabilitation, it is unlikely that he will be seen on the mound in the first team any more this season.

Lee Jae-hee's departure is bad news for the Samsung mound. As of Tuesday, Lee has played in 11 games this season, lost two games and posted an ERA of 3.00 without a win. During nine innings, he struck out nine and walked five, proving his ball power with a batting average of 0.206. Having received attention as a promising player, Lee has finally adapted to the first team.

Lee Jae-hee, who graduated from Hanbat Middle School and Daejeon High School, was selected by Samsung as the third overall pick in the second round of the first round in the rookie draft in 2021. He was expected to develop because he was 187cm tall, but he played only seven games in the first team before serving in the military.

Lee Jae-hee's turning point was around the time when he served in the Sangmu baseball team. He was arrested up to 146-147 kilometers per hour after switching to a pitching foam similar to Ohtani's right before joining the army, and was sprayed up to 150 kilometers from Sangmu. "Since I like Ohtani, I thought about how to achieve a better balance," he said. "When I was in the second year of Sangmu, I had time to change it boldly. I tried to bulk up, so I put my heart and soul into it."

Lee Jae-hee, who showed good performance in the spring camp, was also praised by the team's head coach. "I think the ball power is the best in our bullpen," Samsung coach Park Jin-man said in the early days of the season. "If we gain more experience in the early days of the season, we will have more leeway on the mound after the middle of the season. He showed expectations that he should take a more important role in the future."