ATLANTA — The Los Angeles Dodgers will call up utilityman Hyeseong Kim on Saturday, league sources told The Athletic, setting up the prized South Korean offseason signing for his Major League Baseball debut.
Kim signed a three-year, $12.5 million contract with the Dodgers at the end of his posting process from the KBO’s Kiwoom Heroes in January, choosing them from a list of suitors that included the Seattle Mariners and the Los Angeles Angels.
Advertisement
The Dodgers deal did not include the option to refuse a minor-league assignment; the 26-year-old was sent down to the minors shortly before Opening Day as the Dodgers took him through a complete swing overhaul to adjust to the advanced velocities stateside. In 127 plate appearances with Triple-A Oklahoma City, Kim posted an .801 OPS, hitting .257 with five home runs and 13 stolen bases while playing shortstop, center field and second base.
“Quite frankly, even if I chose any other teams, it would’ve been a challenge,” Kim said during spring training through interpreter Dean Kim about his decision to sign with Los Angeles. “But if I wanted to go against a challenge, I wanted to do it with the best team in the league. There just isn’t any easy way to do this, so I wanted to do it with the Dodgers.”
The swing changes included a tamped-down leg kick and new timing mechanisms to help enhance Kim’s bat-to-ball skills. The Dodgers have long raved about Kim’s athleticism. Now, it’s about making the bat play well enough to make the rest of his skill set effective.
“He has bat-to-ball skills, which is something that can’t really be taught,” hitting coach Aaron Bates said earlier this spring. “He has the ingredients to be great. It’s just kind of fine-tuning things.”
That process appears to be a work in progress. Kim has struck out 24.4 percent of the time in the minors, a massive jump from the 10.9 percent strikeout rate he had last season in Korea.
It’s unclear what immediate role he will fill for the Dodgers. They had spent much of spring preparing him to at least be the strong side of a platoon at second base, calling Kim’s time in the minors a “long-term play” to get him ready to be an everyday big leaguer rather than provide the Dodgers depth off the bench.
Tommy Edman has started 22 of the Dodgers’ first 31 games at second base. He hasn’t played since Tuesday, when he stretched a tendon in his right ankle sliding into third base against the Miami Marlins. Edman went through pregame drills on Friday, hoping to be back in the lineup as soon as Saturday if all went well.
(Photo of Hyeseong Kim: Norm Hall / Getty Images)
