It may have taken a little longer than fans originally thought, but Hyeseong Kim finally made his Los Angeles Dodgers debut.
His .798 OPS in Triple-A, as well as an injured list trip for starting second baseman Tommy Edman, were the perfect storm to get Kim his first taste of the show.
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A rain-delayed Saturday evening in Atlanta had a few bright spots on the way to a 10-3 victory as Kim got his first MLB reps at second base in the ninth inning.
After citing velocity differences between Korean Baseball Organization pitchers and those in MLB, the $12.5 million man has worked tirelessly to get to where his main destination was.
“I would say that there’s still a lot of space where I have to get better,” said Kim via the Orange County Register’s Bill Plunkett. “But compared to Day 1 that I came here, it’s been better to what I used to be. I still have to go work on it.”
Over eight seasons in Korea, Kim batted .304/.364/.403 with a .766 OPS. He added 386 RBIs and 211 stolen bases before starting his journey to MLB.
These numbers not immediately translating would likely be a reason for annoyance given his spring training struggles, but Kim took it in stride and knew it was just another facet of his game he needed to unlock when asked about his feelings towards it.
“No, I wasn’t really frustrated,” he said. “It was just that I had a lot of things to work on. My mindset was that I had to do my work hard, give some good effort and then I’d get called up to the big leagues.”
At least for the moment, Kim is a member of the Dodgers. How long this will be his reality is dependent on Edman’s injury and his performances when the moments arise.
“For now,” said Kim, “I feel really very comfortable, very confident.”
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Photo Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images
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