{"id":696422,"date":"2026-05-11T21:33:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T21:33:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/696422\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T21:33:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T21:33:22","slug":"thank-the-baseball-gods-dodgers-fans-react-as-hyeseong-kim-wins-roster-battle-over-alex-freeland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/696422\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Thank the Baseball Gods\u2019: Dodgers Fans React as Hyeseong Kim Wins Roster Battle Over Alex Freeland"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a> are welcoming back shortstop Mookie Betts<\/a>, finally putting to rest one of two big questions regarding the infield: Hyeseong Kim<\/a> or Alex Freeland<\/a>?<\/p>\n

With Kim, Freeland and Santiago Espinal<\/a> all listed as possibilities for losing a roster spot, the Dodgers decided to option Freeland<\/a>, a move that was welcomed by many fans of Dodgers Nation.<\/p>\n

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What are people saying about Hyeseong Kim and Alex Freeland?<\/p>\n

Many are celebrating Kim, who was sent to the Triple-A Oklahoma City Comets ahead of the start of the regular season.<\/p>\n

With Betts\u2019 injury, though, Kim was called up to the majors<\/a>, and so far, he\u2019s made a solid impact.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s already outhitting himself from last year, slashing .289\/.353\/.395\/.748 in 2026.<\/p>\n

\"AprApr 15, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Hyeseong Kim celebrates after hitting a two-run home run against the New York Mets<\/a> in the second inning at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Given that performance, it\u2019s no surprise so many Dodgers fans are excited about Kim remaining in the majors.<\/p>\n

\u201cHyeseong is safe. Thank the baseball gods,\u201d wrote @wettyfap666.<\/p>\n

\u201cFreeland\u2019s glove will be missed but HS Kim\u2019s bat is more consistent and Espinal can play 3rd giving Muncy rest,\u201d wrote @eaner0919.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood choice. Freeland needs more reps in the minors. His bat is not big league ready yet,\u201d added @whosjayce__.<\/p>\n

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That commenter makes a good point, as Freeland is slashing .235\/.309\/.337\/.646 this season.<\/p>\n

Other fans, though, were a bit more even-keeled, specially given that it was Freeland, not Espinal, who is being sent down.<\/p>\n

What about Santiago Espinal?<\/p>\n

\u201cHappy that Kim is staying but it should\u2019ve been Espinal (respectfully) Freeland has been doing good,\u201d wrote @ssmith__1988.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s an interesting move. Espinal has been so bad offensively I thought that would have been the way to go,\u201d wrote @gonzsteve.<\/p>\n

Espinal is hitting significantly worse than Freeland at .188\/.188\/.250\/.438.<\/p>\n

Yes, his batting average and on-base percentage are the same because Espinal has not been walked this season. He has, however, had some prominent strikeouts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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That led some analysts and fans to predict that Espinal will remain with the team for another couple of weeks until utility player Kike Hernandez<\/a> returns to the squad.<\/p>\n

Dodgers Nation\u2019s Doug McKain predicted that Espinal will be designated for assignment at some point. It\u2019s just a matter of when.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re going to DFA Santiago Espinal,\u201d McKain explained. \u201cI mean, there\u2019s just no spot on the roster for him. And he could find a spot with another team, another opportunity somewhere else. But it\u2019s baseball. It\u2019s a tough business, man. It really only [has] 700 of these jobs in the world, man. It\u2019s not an easy sport to make a living at.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles Dodgers are welcoming back shortstop Mookie Betts, finally putting to rest one of two big…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":696423,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2406],"tags":[22432,5,39,61753,1393,5953,1165,4332,4333,774,57,3224,4331,4,1526,87754,61,1552],"class_list":["post-696422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-alex-freeland","tag-baseball","tag-dodgers","tag-dodgers-nation","tag-hyeseong-kim","tag-kike-hernandez","tag-la","tag-la-dodgers","tag-ladodgers","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-losangeles","tag-losangelesdodgers","tag-mlb","tag-mookie-betts","tag-nelson-espinal","tag-new-york-mets","tag-santiago-espinal"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116558090219210774","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696422","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=696422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/696423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}