{"id":579096,"date":"2026-02-18T10:59:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T10:59:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/579096\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T10:59:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T10:59:29","slug":"kim-crushes-homer-off-yamamoto-in-spring-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/579096\/","title":{"rendered":"Kim Crushes Homer off Yamamoto in Spring Training"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hyeseong Kim made clear he wants to get the start at second base<\/a> with Tommy Edman still recovering from surgery.<\/a><\/p>\n

If he keeps crushing home runs off of the reigning World Series MVP<\/a>, he won\u2019t have a hard time making his case.<\/p>\n

\"FebFeb 13, 2026; Glendale, AZ, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Hyeseong Kim (6) gets ready to hit during spring training camp. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

On Tuesday morning, Kim faced Yoshinobu Yamamoto and smashed an opposite field home run.<\/p>\n

The homer drew oohs from the crowd in attendance, followed by a round of applause.<\/p>\n

Kim\u2019s Prospects of Getting the Second Base Job<\/p>\n

Kim came into spring training with the goal of winning the second-base job in Edman\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah of course,\u201d Kim said. \u201cAs a baseball player it\u2019s something I\u2019ve always dreamed of. To start on an Opening Day roster at second base. That\u2019s why I worked hard in the offseason for it and hopefully the results show.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not alone in wanting that spot, however.<\/p>\n

Manager Dave Roberts said Kim is \u201cin the mix,\u201d but so too are Miguel Rojas, Alex Freeland and the recently signed\u00a0Santiago Espinal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rojas and Espinal bring years of MLB experience to the table, while Kim and Freeland are both beginning their second seasons in the majors.<\/p>\n

Kim, Rojas and Freeland all saw time at second base for the Dodgers in 2025.<\/p>\n

How Long Will the Second Base Job Be up for Grabs?<\/p>\n

Edman is set to miss Opening Day for sure, though how much longer he remains out is yet to be seen.<\/p>\n

Thus far, Edman has taken some swings on both sides of the plate and done some jogging and skipping as well, Roberts said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt takes a while to get your body into baseball shape, so we\u2019re not going to rush it. We want to put him in the best position,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Edman also said he\u2019s taking things slowly, noting that the true test of his recovery will be when he tries to suddenly accelerate or change directions at high speed, as he would as a baserunner.<\/p>\n

Thus far, though, there haven\u2019t been any setbacks, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s gonna be the main thing, just making sure that I keep on progressing and don\u2019t have any issues bouncing back the way I do it,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"App<\/p>\n

LA Baseball Report<\/p>\n

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GET<\/a> \u00d7 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hyeseong Kim made clear he wants to get the start at second base with Tommy Edman still recovering…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":579097,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2406],"tags":[5,39,1393,1165,4332,4333,774,57,3224,4331,4,558],"class_list":{"0":"post-579096","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-dodgers","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-dodgers","10":"tag-hyeseong-kim","11":"tag-la","12":"tag-la-dodgers","13":"tag-ladodgers","14":"tag-los-angeles","15":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","16":"tag-losangeles","17":"tag-losangelesdodgers","18":"tag-mlb","19":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116091288348355949","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579096","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=579096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/579097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}