ATLANTA, Ga. – Ha-Seong Kim stealthily entered the Truist Park clubhouse and quietly sat down at his locker prior to Atlanta’s game against the Seattle Mariners on Friday.
He was set to start at shortstop and bat fifth in Atlanta’s lineup. Cool, calm and collected, Kim’s been crowned as the team’s starting shortstop going forward, replacing Nick Allen, a defensive wizard who lacks the offensive production the team has grown accustomed to from previous shortstops like Dansby Swanson and Orlando Arcia.
Kim was placed on waivers by the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday and claimed by Atlanta, joining the team the next day in Chicago, where he immediately made an impact. Trailing in the seventh inning of Wednesday’s series finale, Kim cranked a go-ahead, three-run home run that paved the way to a 5-1 win for Atlanta.
Remarkably, it was the first home run by a Braves shortstop in 2025.
In three games with the Braves, Kim is 3-for-11 with four RBIs, including the team’s first run in Friday’s 4-1 win over the Mariners.
“It’s impressive already,” manager Brian Snitker said.
Kim enjoyed success in his first four seasons, where he was an infielder for the San Diego Padres from 2021-24. He joined the Rays this past offseason on a two-year contract that included a $16 million player option for 2026.
But after a season marred by injuries – which limited him to just 24 games, in which he’s having his worst season with a .214 batting average and just two home runs and five RBIs – Tampa Bay placed him on waivers, leading to a change of scenery that brought him to Atlanta.
“Throughout my career, I’ve never been a guy that had any major injuries,” Kim said. “It was really difficult and a mental challenge throughout this rehab stint. I know I’ve missed a lot of games. With a month ahead, I’m trying to finish on a high note in a healthy status.”
For Kim, the move to Atlanta isn’t just a second chance — it’s a reunion with an old friend who once helped him navigate a foreign clubhouse. That friend is Jurickson Profar, who requested that Kim’s locker be next to his.
The two played together in San Diego, bonding over their shared struggles with English and sparking a friendship that has blossomed to brotherly proportions.
“A player like (Kim) coming from Asia, coming here not knowing English (well), I was always there for him,” Profar said. “Teaching him and then learning from him. We just became brothers.”
A native of South Korea, Kim doesn’t know many people in the United States that speak Korean, including his teammates. Profar, who is from Curacao, faced similar challenges during his time with the Texas Rangers as a highly touted prospect in his late teens and early twenties.
“I definitely have a lot of good memories with Pro, and it obviously makes it a lot easier to get adjusted to a new team,” Kim said. “He’s taken care of me in San Diego, and he’s doing the same thing here.”
Profar speaks four languages fluently – Spanish, English, Papiamento and Dutch – with Japanese and Korean not too far behind.
“He told me, ‘Before we retire, we need to play again, but in Korea.’ But here we are playing together again,” Profar said, laughing. “He’s a really, really good baseball player. He can help the team in a lot of ways.”
Profar was away on paternity leave for the birth of his daughter, Khaia, when Kim cranked that home run against Chicago. He texted Kim right away, he said.
“Baseball is really, really difficult. You fail a lot” Profar said. “But if you have someone to talk to, try to make you better every day or correct something, it’s huge. Hopefully he stays (in Atlanta) so we can win a lot of games together.”