“Fedex-Hurado Official” Temu-born Ohtani’s Confession: “I Want to Emulate Both His Character and Skill” — Now on the Verge of Mimicking a “Championship” as Well

*This content was translated by AI.View Original

“Temu-born Ohtani!”

It was a lighthearted compliment left by the Samsung Lions’ foreign “one-two punch,” Chris Fedex (30) and Ariel Hurdado (30), directed at Lee Jae-hee (25), who saved the team from a critical crisis. At least in Game 4 of the Korea Series, he was the perfect ruler of the mound, one for whom the “real” Major League Baseball player Shohei Ohtani (32, LA Dodgers) was nothing to envy.

Lee Jae-hee made a relief appearance in Game 4 of the Korea Series (best-of-seven) against the KT Wiz at Daegu Samsung Lions Park on the 7th, recording a dominant scoreless outing over 2⅔ innings with four strikeouts to earn the win and the Daily MVP award. After the game, Lee shared his thoughts, saying, “I am very happy that we were able to win such an important Game 4.”

The most shining moment of the day was undoubtedly the fifth inning. The Samsung Lions, who had been comfortably leading 7-1, found themselves chased down to 7-4 in a bases-loaded situation with one out due to consecutive control issues from the bullpen. It was catcher Kang Min-ho (41) who awakened Lee Jae-hee’s nerve as he rushed onto the precarious mound. “When I went up with the bases loaded, senior Min-ho told me, ‘The ball is good, so don’t look at the corners; throw them all down the middle,’” Lee recalled. “I didn’t overthink it and just focused on facing the batter head-on to stop him, and a good result came out,” he explained the secret behind escaping the crisis.

The foreign pitchers gifted Lee Jae-hee, who delivered a scoreless gem through bold head-on pitching, with the nickname “Temu-born Ohtani.” For Lee, who has long admired Ohtani, it held special meaning. “At first, I was captivated by Ohtani’s baseball skills, but the more I learned about him, the more I thought everything about him was great, from his character to how he treats people,” he said with a smile. “I decided to emulate all of it, so I have been working hard to follow in his footsteps.”

The reason Lee Jae-hee’s performance on this day was even more moving is that it completed an autumn baseball fairytale alongside “rehabilitation buddy” Park Seung-gyu. Lee fully agreed with Manager Park Jin-man’s praise of Park Seung-gyu as a “crazy player,” recalling, “At this time last year, I was in the rehabilitation group with senior Seung-gyu and could only watch the autumn baseball on TV.” He continued, “We talked a lot back then about ‘let’s become the mainstays once,’ so it feels nostalgic seeing it become reality now.” His tenacity, which usually involves an excitable style where he tries to suppress the opponent’s momentum with aggressive reactions on the mound, bloomed perfectly this autumn.

Lee Jae-hee, who said he wanted to emulate both Ohtani’s “skill and character,” is now on the verge of catching up even in the “championship ring” category, just as his role model Ohtani reached the pinnacle of the World Series in the 2024 and 2025 seasons. Thanks to Temu-born Ohtani’s perfect pitching, Samsung secured a decisive 10-5 victory, leaving them only one win away from the Korea Series championship.

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*This content was translated by AI.View Original