Did Lee Jung-hoo Make the 2026 MLB All-Star Team? Giants Star Snubbed Despite Historic .317 Season

No, Lee Jung-hoo did not make the 2026 MLB All-Star Game, despite putting together one of the finest offensive seasons of any outfielder in the National League through the first half of the year, leaving the San Francisco Giants center fielder off the roster for what would have been his first career selection.

The Giants will instead be represented by just two players at Tuesday's All-Star Game in Philadelphia: right-hander Logan Webb, who earned his third consecutive selection after being named the National League's starting pitcher of the month for June, and second baseman Luis Arraez, who has continued hitting well above .300 while showing defensive improvement at his position. Lee, despite arguably outperforming both teammates by several statistical measures relative to his position, was passed over entirely.

Lee's absence from the roster comes during a breakout season that many around the Giants organization view as the long-awaited fulfillment of the promise that led San Francisco to sign him out of the KBO, South Korea's top professional baseball league, to a six-year, $113 million contract two winters ago. Through 80 games this season, Lee has slashed .317/.348/.452 with five home runs and 33 RBI, numbers that place him among an elite group of hitters across all of Major League Baseball. According to figures cited by SI.com's OnSI network, Lee is one of only a handful of qualifying hitters in the majors with a batting average of .300 or better, ranking third in the National League behind Miami's Otto Lopez, at .431, and Arraez, at .330, both of whom did make this year's All-Star team. Lee also ranked sixth in the National League with 96 hits and seventh with 68 singles.

Lee's early-season form was even more dominant than his current numbers reflect. As of June 9, Lee was hitting .338 and comfortably in the conversation for the NL batting title, according to Just Baseball. His production cooled somewhat over the remainder of June, but his overall body of work remained among the best of any NL outfielder heading into the All-Star break.

SI.com's Matthew Postins argued directly that Lee deserved a spot on the roster given his production relative to the reserve outfielders who were ultimately selected. "Giants right fielder Jung Hoo Lee has a right to have beef with MLB over not making his first All-Star Game. He has the numbers to be in the mix," Postins wrote. He noted that the National League's reserve outfielders, Arizona's Corbin Carroll, the Chicago Cubs' Pete Crow-Armstrong, St. Louis' Jordan Walker and Washington's James Wood, were all recognizable names, with all but Walker having made previous All-Star appearances. "Lee could make the argument that MLB could have spread the wealth. Maybe next year. But Lee has the right to feel snubbed," Postins wrote.

Just Baseball similarly identified Lee, along with third baseman Casey Schmitt, as a player who had a legitimate case for All-Star inclusion despite San Francisco's overall struggles this season. "While he's slowed down a bit over the last few weeks, Jung Hoo Lee has finally played like the player the Giants were expecting when they signed him to a $113 million deal a few winters ago," the outlet wrote, noting that Lee was the best player in the KBO at the time of his signing and appears to finally be showcasing that ability in the majors.

Lee's path to this breakout season has not been smooth. He missed the majority of his first year with the Giants in 2024 due to shoulder surgery and posted only a slightly above-average campaign in his second season last year. This year, at age 27, Lee appears to have finally found consistent footing at the major league level, delivering the kind of all-around offensive production that had made him such a prized international free agent target when he signed with San Francisco.

Ironically, Lee's strong individual season has come during one of the more difficult team-wide stretches in recent Giants history. San Francisco has been among the worst teams in baseball through the first half of 2026, currently tied for the third-most losses in the sport and sitting roughly 15 games below .500. That poor overall record has fueled speculation about the team's direction heading toward the trade deadline, with some outlets floating the possibility that the Giants could look to move Lee as part of a broader rebuild, while others have argued the opposite, that Lee should be viewed as a core cornerstone the team builds around rather than trades away.

Giants fans had pushed for Lee's inclusion during the earlier phases of All-Star voting, with fan blog McCovey Chronicles specifically encouraging supporters to direct votes toward Lee during Phase 1 balloting, citing the tear he had been on at the time. Ultimately, however, that support was not enough to secure him a spot on the final roster, whether through fan voting, the players' ballot, or the additional selections made by league offices and team representatives to fill out reserve and injury-replacement spots.

With Webb and Arraez set to represent the Giants at Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday, Lee will instead spend the All-Star break away from the festivities, continuing to build on what has already become the best offensive season of his young major league career. Barring a late add due to injury replacements elsewhere on the National League roster, a scenario that remains at least theoretically possible before the game, Lee's first All-Star selection will have to wait until at least next year, even as his 2026 numbers stand as strong evidence that the recognition may simply be a matter of time.