Slugger Lee Seung-yeop will become Japan's highest paid athlete next year after signing a four-year contract for three billion yen - or roughly 25-point-two-million dollars - with the Yomiuri Giants baseball team.

The Japanese daily Sankei Sports said that the home run king earned the second-highest salary among baseball players in Japan this year after lefty Tomoaki Kanemoto signed a three-year deal with the Hanshin Tigers for two billion yen.

The daily went on to say that Lee’s salary will jump to seven-hundred-million yen.

In the history of Japanese sports, the highest paid baseball player was Roberto Petagine of Yomiuri with seven-hundred-20-million yen a year followed by Lee and former pitcher Kazuhiro Sasaki with six-hundred-50-million yen.