Rehabilitation after surgery, worst-case scenario 'Reality'

Lee Jung-hoo (25, San Francisco Giants), the grandson of the wind, will take the operating table. Although he had many worries and observations due to his injury in May, the last thing he wanted has come true.

Lee Jung-hoo will no longer be seen this season.

"Lee Jung-hoo met Dr. Neal Elatrache in Los Angeles and was recommended shoulder surgery," the San Francisco Giants said on the 18th (Korea Standard Time). "Lee Jung-hoo will undergo joint and sequential suture of his left shoulder within a few weeks. He will not be on the ground in 2024." He was out for the season.

Lee Jung-hoo recently conducted a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examination, and structural damage was found on Lee's left shoulder, and Lee Jung-hoo moved to Los Angeles on the 17th to meet Dr. Elatrache.

Dr. Elatrache is a world-renowned surgeon in sports who is also well known as Ryu Hyun-jin's family doctor. He is well-known for having performed surgery on Ryu's shoulder and elbow. When many sports stars in other sports as well as the MLB come to Los Angeles to have surgery on their shoulder, Dr. Elatrache will be assigned to them.

Last year, MLB superstar Shohei Ohtani (Los Angeles Dodgers) underwent elbow surgery by Dr. Elatrache.

The news of Lee Jung-hoo's shocking outing for the season dates back to a home game against the Cincinnati Reds on the 13th. Lee Jung-hoo started as the first batter and center fielder on the day, but was replaced without being able to play any at-bats as he was injured during outfield defense in the top of the first inning.

San Francisco Giants manager Bob Melvin told U.S. media after the game that Lee's shoulder condition was not good, saying, "Not good. I have to have an MRI tomorrow (May 14) for now, but it's true that it's not good."
With the bases loaded with two outs in the top of the first inning with San Francisco tying 0-0, Lee followed Cincinnati batter Jaymer Candelario's homerun and jumped to catch the ball. However, he failed to catch and hit the fence strongly before collapsing.

Lee could no longer play the game, complaining of shoulder pain. The San Francisco Giants replaced Lee with Tyler Fitzgerald immediately to protect its player. MLB.COM, the official website of the U.S. Major League Baseball, reported that Lee did not seem to move his left arm when being helped off the field by the San Francisco Giants' Spok trainer Dave Grossner.

Melvin described Lee's shoulder as "separated." However, as a San Francisco Giants official clearly described Lee as "disclosed" shoulder, chances are high that the injury was not a simple injury, and such concern became a real situation after the surgery was decided in five days.

Lee said, "This is not the first time I have had shoulder surgery. Even when I was with Kiwoom Heroes in the KBO League (2017-2023), I had to suffer from a left shoulder injury. On June 19, 2018 when I was in my second year at a match against the Doosan Bears in Jamsil, I was diagnosed with a torn left shoulder joint and hip. As I was hurt during head-first sliding while running base, I couldn't play in the first division game for one month.

Since then, Lee has suffered another injury to his left shoulder during the postseason in November 2018. He injured his left shoulder while attempting to make a diving catch while defending the outfield in the second round of the semi-playoff against the Hanwha Eagles.

Eventually, on Nov. 7, 2018, he underwent an anterior and posterior joint surgery on his left shoulder. Despite Lee Jung-hoo's departure, Kiwoom defeated the Hanwha Eagles 3-1 in the semi-playoff to advance to the playoffs, but failed to overcome the wall of the SK Wyverns (currently SSG Landers). Realizing Lee Jung-hoo's absence, he failed to advance to the Korean Series with two wins and three losses.

Back then, Lee displayed strong performance. Immediately after the surgery in November 2018, Lee was expected to take about six months for rehabilitation, and Kiwoom initially set the time for Lee's return to May 2019, but the recovery speed was faster than expected and faster than expected.

Lee shortened his rehabilitation period by as much as two months. After successfully returning to Korea to coincide with the opening of the regular season in March 2019, he strongly swung his team Kiwoom to advance to the Korean Series.

Lee reigned as the best hitter in the KBO league from the 2019 to 2022 season without any major injuries. Although he underwent sutures at the beginning of the second half of last season, his last season in Korea, he did not block his advance to the Major League.

Based on the rapid recovery, Lee Jung-hoo played one at-bat in the Gocheok Sky Dome game against the Samsung Lions on October 10 last year. Although he had a strong character of saying goodbye to Kiwoom fans, he showed off his superhuman resilience once again.

Again this time, Lee Jung-hoo took quick measures, such as undergoing surgery by the world-renowned Dr. Elatrache, and the player himself is very sincere in rehabilitation, so he may expect a quick return.

What is worrisome, however, is that Lee's latest injury is his left shoulder, which he underwent surgery six years ago. For now, Lee will faithfully undergo rehabilitation this season and start preparing early for next season.

It is regrettable that he has been increasing his batting performance in May. Lee posted a batting average of 0.262 (38 hits in 145 at-bats), two homers, eight RBIs, two steals, and an OPS of 0.641 in 37 MLB games this season. His classical record was not satisfactory, but he showed off his pioneering performance that San Francisco had expected by recording the top 1 percent swing and miss ratio (9.6 percent) and strikeout ratio (8.2 percent).

His batting speed was 89.1 miles per hour (143.3 kilometers), slightly higher than MLB's average of 88.5 miles (142.4 kilometers). In particular, he has been on the rise since the game against the Philadelphia Phillies on the 4th, with six consecutive hits. In terms of May's performance alone, he complied with his performance by posting 10 hits in 37 times at bat, a batting average of 0.270 and one RBI. Considering that he is in his big league debut season, he was able to receive favorable reviews. He suffered a shocking injury at a good time and headed to the operating table.

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