From Jack Vita: With Tommy Edman opening the season on the injured list, Hyeseong Kim is a prime candidate to see an uptick in playing time at second base for the Dodgers in the coming season. On Tuesday, he further solidified his case.
With teammate Yoshinobu Yamamoto throwing a live batting practice session on the backfields at Camelback Ranch, Kim took the World Series MVP on an unexpected ride. On the 16th pitch of Yamamoto’s live batting practice, Kim crushed an opposite-field home run, dazzling the hundreds of Dodgers fans gathered to watch the team ready itself for its first slate of exhibition games that begin Saturday.
Kim said he tweaked his swing last year after coming over from the KBO on a three-year, $12.5-million contract, and is continuing to progress and feel more comfortable with the adjustments he’s made.
“The swing changes we made last year, I would say I felt about 70% comfortable with,” Kim said through an interpreter on Monday. “And then, this offseason and spring training, we were able to recognize some of the other stuff that we needed to work on, so I’m working very hard to make those changes again this year.”
Miguel Rojas talks about Game 7 homer
From Jack Vita: When asked to describe Game 7 of the World Series and his place in it more than three months later, veteran infielder Miguel Rojas did not hesitate with his answer.
“Game 7 of the World Series was unbelievable,” Rojas said at his locker inside the Dodgers’ clubhouse at Camelback Ranch last week. “Because nobody believed that I was able to hit a home run in the ninth inning with one out, and in that spot. No way.”
Rojas worked the count full, and on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman left a slider over the plate, which Rojas rocketed over the left field bullpen, leaving the 44,000 fans on hand at the Rogers Centre — and the 51 million viewers watching — completely stunned.
“That was one of the most shocking World Series home runs I’ve ever seen,” Fox Sports commentator Tom Verducci said. “Here I was thinking, ‘Well, Ohtani’s on deck, so he doesn’t want to walk him.’ Never in my mind did I ever think that he was going to hit a home run. It was even more shocking to me than the Rajai Davis home run off [Aroldis] Chapman in 2016.”
Former Dodgers star Walker Buehler signs with San Diego Padres
UCLA men are routed by Michigan State
Jeremy Fears Jr. had 16 points and 10 assists, leading No. 15 Michigan State to an 82-59 victory over UCLA on Tuesday night.
The Spartans (21-5, 11-4 Big Ten) bounced back with a strong performance after losing three of four games and falling five spots in the Associated Press Top 25 this week. Fears scored 11 in the first half to help MSU build a 20-point advantage.
The Bruins (17-9, 9-6) have lost two straight games after winning five of six.
UCLA forward Tyler Bilodeau scored 22 points but didn’t have much help. None of his teammates were in double figures until Skyy Clark made some late shots to finish with 12 points.
This day in sports history
1924 — Theresa Weld Blanchard wins her sixth and final U.S. figure skating championship. Sherwin Badger captures his fifth straight and final men’s title.
1928 — Sonja Henie, 15, becomes the youngest Olympic figure skating champion. She easily beats Fritzi Burger of Austria and Beatrix Loughran of the U.S.
1932 — Sonja Henie wins her sixth straight world title.
1951 — Manhattan District Attorney Frank Hogan orders the arrest of three City College basketball players on bribery charges and two pro gamblers and two intermediaries in a game-fixing scandal involving college teams across the country.
1961 — Bob Pettit of St. Louis scores a career-high 57 points in a 141-138 victory over the Detroit Pistons.
1964 — Wilt Chamberlain scores 52 points against Detroit, his second consecutive 50-point game.
1972 — Randy Smith of Buffalo plays the first of what would become 906 consecutive games, an NBA record which took more than 11 full seasons to accomplish.
1981 — Edmonton’s Wayne Gretzky scores five goals and adds two assists to lead the Oilers over the St. Louis Blues 9-2.
1986 — San Antonio’s Alvin Robertson records the second quadruple-double in NBA history, with 20 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 steals in the Spurs’ 120-114 win over Phoenix.
1990 — Dale Earnhardt blows a tire with one mile remaining in the Daytona 500, giving Derrike Cope the biggest upset in stock car racing history.
1992 — Italy’s Alberto Tomba wins the giant slalom in Albertville, France, to become the first Alpine skier to win the same event at two Winter Olympics.
1995 — Utah guard John Stockton becomes the first NBA player with 10,000 assists in a 108-98 victory over the Boston Celtics.
2001 — Dale Earnhardt, the greatest stock car star of his era, is killed in a crash on the last turn of the last lap of the Daytona 500 as he tries to protect Michael Waltrip’s victory.
2006 — Shani Davis becomes the first Black athlete to win an individual gold medal in the Winter Olympics, capturing the 1,000-meter speedskating race. Joey Cheek makes it a 1-2 American finish, adding a silver to his victory in the 500 at the Turin Games.
2010 — Evan Lysacek becomes the first U.S. man to win the Olympic gold medal since Brian Boitano in 1988, shocking everyone with an upset of defending champion Evgeni Plushenko.
2012 — Shenneika Smith’s three-pointer from the wing with 8 seconds left lifts St. John’s to a 57-56 win over No. 2 Connecticut, ending the Huskies’ 99-game home court winning streak. It’s the Huskies’ first home loss to an unranked opponent in nearly 19 years.
2013 — Brittney Griner scores 25 points, including the 3,000th of her career, to help No. 1 Baylor rally past third-ranked Connecticut 76-70.
2017 — Mikaela Shiffrin wins a third straight slalom title at the world championships to retain her unbeaten record at major events.
2022 — Johannes Thingnes Bø of Norway wins his fourth biathlon gold medal of the Beijing Winter Olympics when he wins the men’s mass start.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.