This story was excerpted from Maria Guardado¡¯s Giants Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
Justin Han¡¯s day begins and ends the same way: with a check-in with Jung Hoo Lee.
Han has served as Lee¡¯s interpreter since the former KBO star signed with the Giants prior to the 2024 season. The two are now rarely apart, as Lee relies on Han to help him navigate life in the big leagues and translate everything from conversations with teammates to daily schedules to scouting reports from coaches.
A native of Cheonan, South Korea, Han grew up a huge fan of the Hanwha Eagles and still remembers counting Trevor Hoffman saves as a kid, which made him uniquely suited for his current role with the Giants.
MLB.com recently chatted with the 30-year-old Han to discuss his career path and what it¡¯s been like to watch Lee break out this year.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
How did you become Jung Hoo¡¯s interpreter?
I used to work in the KBO for a team called the NC Dinos, and thankfully, I got to translate for the MVP [in 2023]. His name is Erick Fedde. He plays for the St. Louis Cardinals right now. Jung Hoo and Erick have the same agency [Boras Corp.], so thankfully, he spoke highly of me. And then there was that connection where Jung Hoo needed a translator with him that knows about baseball, so he was thinking about maybe taking a translator that works in the KBO. Now I'm here with Jung Hoo. I'm a very lucky guy.
Did you have any prior experience working as a sports interpreter?
I first started my translating life in 2018 for the PyeongChang Olympics, the Winter Olympics in Korea. That was when I just got out from the military service. I kind of wanted to do something cool because I was kind of locked in there in the military for 21 months. I got the chance to do it. It was really fun, something that not a lot of people could try to do. After that, I just got so interested in it. Before working for the Dinos, I worked for a volleyball team, actually. It's kind of far away from baseball but still the same industry.
How did you become fluent in English?
I went to middle school and high school in Canada. Vancouver. That's where I picked up my English. But I had to go back to Korea because of the military. It¡¯s mandatory.
[In South Korea, most able-bodied men between 18 and 35 are required to serve in the armed forces for 18-21 months, though special military exemptions are granted for athletes like Lee, who performed only four weeks of basic training after helping the Korean national baseball team win a gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games.]
Did you have any interactions with Jung Hoo before you became his interpreter?
No. That's the crazy part. I started bonding with him last Spring Training. In Korea, when you speak to somebody that's older or somebody that you have respect for -- we have a [different] kind of way of speaking in Korean. So for maybe two months, I feel like Jung Hoo and I were actually really awkward talking to each other. I would actually talk to him more when he needed me to translate.
How did you go about trying to establish that relationship and build that trust with him? What was that process like?
Yeah, so that is a big part of translating. There has to be that belief that he's translating well for me because Jung Hoo doesn't understand all the English I say. But it was after that injury that he and I really bonded. I feel like you become close to the people that you're around when you're having hard times, not the good times.
What was it like to just see him go through that whole rehab process?
It wasn't fun. I'm not gonna lie. It was miserable for a couple months. But Jung Hoo is such a unique, positive guy. He's always there to try to just get through this. I feel like he started off this season so well. If he never had that kind of experience and all those injuries last year -- he would have had a great season, but it would have been not this great. This is from my perspective. He learned from the injury, for sure.
Have you seen him come out of his shell more this year now that he's healthy and doing well?
Yes. He's the guy in the clubhouse. [Laughs.] He doesn't need my help in the clubhouse.
How would you describe Jung Hoo¡¯s level of fame in Korea?
Jung Hoo is such a humble guy, and he's probably not going to like that I'm saying this, but he is a very famous guy in Korea. A lot of people recognize him on the streets. But at the same time, that's why I have so much respect for him, because he does not like to show this off. He likes to keep this to himself. He¡¯s a very humble guy. I learn from him a lot.
What's your favorite part of your job?
Free food. [Laughs.] No, just all the experiences that I have with Jung Hoo. When he hit two homers at Yankees, I felt like that just gave me goosebumps because he's gone through a lot, and I've always watched him do it. It's those parts where you¡¯re kind of just like, ¡°Wow, this is crazy.¡±