{"id":527364,"date":"2026-01-19T06:41:31","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T06:41:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/527364\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T06:41:31","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T06:41:31","slug":"braves-ha-seong-kim-to-miss-at-least-four-months-after-falling-on-ice-in-offseason-injury-crusher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/527364\/","title":{"rendered":"Braves\u2019 Ha-seong Kim to miss at least four months after falling on ice in offseason injury crusher"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Braves will be without a key infielder for a significant portion of the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

Ha-seong Kim, who was expected to be Atlanta\u2019s starting shortstop, will miss four to five months after undergoing surgery to repair a torn tendon in his right middle finger, the team announced Sunday.<\/a><\/p>\n

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Kim sustained the injury in his native Korea after slipping and falling on ice, per MLB.com\u2019s Mark Bowman.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Ha-Seong<\/p>\n

Ha-Seong Kim re-signed with the Braves in December for one-year, $20 million. AP<\/p>\n

The 30-year-old joined the Braves last September as a waiver pickup from the Rays following another injury-plagued season.<\/p>\n

After recovering from shoulder surgery to open 2025, Kim appeared in just 24 games with Tampa Bay before landing on the injured list again with a back issue.<\/p>\n

Atlanta claimed him in early September with plans for him to man shortstop down the stretch.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think if I had stayed healthy, I would\u2019ve played more games every day,\u201d Kim said through an interpreter after joining Atlanta, per MLB.com<\/a>. \u201cObviously, the season didn\u2019t really pan out to how I had planned it.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m obviously excited to play alongside a talented group of players, and I\u2019m obviously very excited to finish the season on a high note, in a healthy way.\u201d<\/p>\n

After hitting .253\/.316\/.368 with three home runs and 12 RBIs in September, Kim opted out of the second year of the two-year, $29 million deal he signed the previous offseason.<\/p>\n

Kim re-signed with the Braves<\/a> on a one-year, $20 million contract to serve as the team\u2019s full-time shortstop in 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can tell you it helped on our end, just from a comfort standpoint,\u201d Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos said of having Kim for the last month of 2025<\/a>. \u201cI feel like even though he wasn\u2019t here that long, a month was pretty significant. He fit in quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ha-Seong<\/p>\n

Ha-Seong Kim reacts after scoring on a RBI double by Michael Harris II #23 in the second inning against the Washington Nationals at Truist Park on September 22, 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia. Getty Images<\/p>\n

A former Gold Glove winner as a utility player, Kim has flashed a dynamic blend of speed, power and defense across five MLB seasons, though injuries have followed him.<\/p>\n

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He underwent shoulder surgery in October 2024 for a \u201csmall tear\u201d in the labrum in his right shoulder, an injury he suffered in late August of that season.<\/p>\n

Both the Rays and Braves have hoped to recapture Kim\u2019s 2023 form, when he slashed .260\/.351\/.398 with 17 homers, 60 RBIs and 38 stolen bases for the Padres.<\/p>\n

A three-time Gold Glove winner in the Korea Baseball Organization, Kim joined the majors after signing a four-year, $28 million deal with the Padres for the 2021 campaign.<\/p>\n

Fellow Gold Glove winner Mauricio Dub\u00f3n, acquired by Atlanta this offseason, figures to see significant time at shortstop to open 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Braves will be without a key infielder for a significant portion of the 2026 season. Ha-seong Kim,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":527365,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2398],"tags":[191,5,192,633,3617,661,4,415,297,10957,414,71,4222],"class_list":{"0":"post-527364","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-washington-nationals","8":"tag-atlanta","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-braves","11":"tag-ha-seong-kim","12":"tag-mauricio-dubon","13":"tag-michael-harris-ii","14":"tag-mlb","15":"tag-nationals","16":"tag-rays","17":"tag-shoulder-surgery","18":"tag-washington","19":"tag-washington-nationals","20":"tag-washingtonnationals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115920403514471466","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/527365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}