"It's cold. Your coat..." Lee Jung-hoo's consideration moved me. "I came to Korea because I wanted to know more about LE." [At Icheon]

*This content was translated by AI.

San Francisco Giants new head coach Tony Bytelo (48) expressed his feelings of being moved by Lee Jung-hoo (28)'s trivial consideration.

San Francisco coach Bytello said before the youth clinic held at LG Champions Park in Icheon, Gyeonggi-do on the 7th, "I came to Korea and received a lot of love. The weather in Korea is cold, but I ate so much that I can't feel it's cold," he said.

Lee Jung-hoo, CEO Larry Baer, president of the baseball division Buster Posey, general manager Jack Minasian, manager Bytello and player representative Willie Adames attended the event, co-hosted by the U.S. Major League Baseball (MLB) and San Francisco.

Coach Bytelo is a young head coach newly appointed by San Francisco after the end of the 2025 season. When he was appointed to San Francisco, he drew attention as a rare case of managing the Major League without a professional team coaching experience. Coach Bytelo, who did not receive a major league nomination even when he was a player, has been the head coach of the University of Tennessee since the 2018 season. He has a 341-128 career record at the University of Tennessee and is a college baseball master who holds the U.S. College World Series trophy in 2024.

It is his first meeting with Lee Jung-hoo, who returned to Korea immediately after the end of last season. "Actually, the biggest reason for visiting Korea this time is Lee Jung-hoo," Vaitello said. When I identify a player, I see a lot of the environment, personality, and personality that the player has grown up in. In that sense, I had a really meaningful time with Lee Jung-hoo. I got to know Lee Jung-hoo for the first time this time, but I want to get to know Lee Jung-hoo for the rest of the season and more."

Lee Jung-hoo's alma mater Hwimungo and more than 60 Deoksu players from last year's Cheongryonggi winning team were invited to the clinic. Director Bytelo was attracted to the clinic itself, and the background of his growth was also related.

He said, "My father has coached at a high school for 46 years, so it means a lot to high school life. When I saw Lee Jung-hoo smiling at Hwimungo students today, I thought, 'Lee is also a player who really values his roots.' "I'm also a person who values roots. "Because I'm in the position of learning and starting my life in high school, it's meaningful to meet with high school players today and share a lot," he added.

The 2026 season is a very important season for both Lee Jung-hoo and Vitello. Lee Jung-hoo, who was out for the season after playing only 37 games due to an unexpected shoulder injury in his first year of debut, played his first full-time season last year. Full-time performance is not satisfactory. In 150 games, he played a batting average of 0.266 (149 hits in 560 at-bats), eight home runs, 55 RBIs, 73 runs, 10 steals, and a on-base percentage of 0.327 OPS of 0.407 OPS of 0.735.

However, the head coach does not seem to care at all. Coach Vitello said, "What I expect from Lee Jung-hoo this year is that I want him to show a more comfortable side. In fact, I think it was the first year for Lee Jung-hoo last year, so I'm more looking forward to his performance this year," he said. "In fact, it's my first year as a coach, so I get a lot of questions about this season, and my biggest goal is to go into off-season training and prepare well together as a team and enter the season. You have to prepare well to have good results, and Adames and Lee Jung-hoo should do better," he said.

He also revealed the reason why the first meeting was special. "To tell you one more thing, as soon as I got here, it was cold because I didn't have a coat," Vitello said. After hearing that, Lee Jung-hoo went to the hotel room and gave him his coat. Seeing that, I definitely felt that I would be a good team member. I really wanted to talk about this," he stressed.

He said, "I watched a lot of videos of Lee Jung-hoo's game after taking office in San Francisco. Lee Jung-hoo produced the best results when he looked comfortable. I will also help Lee Jung-hoo play as comfortably as possible during the season," he said.

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*This content was translated by AI.