Hyeseong Kim hasn’t been given a ton of opportunities for the Los Angeles Dodgers, but the rookie sure is making the most of them.
After signing him to a three-year, $33 million contract, it was a bit of a surprise when the Dodgers started Kim in Triple-A. Since his debut on May 3, he’s only gotten 13 starts and a total of 48 plate appearances.
However, he’s been absolutely killing it when he’s getting his chances. After a sterling 4-for-4 performance with multiple standout plays on defense on Saturday, he’s up to a .422 batting average and 1.058 OPS on the season. He generated 0.4 fWAR in Saturday’s game alone.
After Kim helped the Dodgers obliterate the New York Yankees 18-2, manager Dave Roberts spoke about the 26-year-old’s impact on his new team (via Dodger Blue on YouTube).
“Hyeseong, there’s just something about him, that youthful enthusiasm, that joy,” Roberts said. “He’s just happy to be out there, happy to be helping the team, and guys feed off that energy.”
But Roberts was quickly asked a more pressing question: Will there be more opportunities for Kim to earn playing time in June?
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“Yeah,” Roberts responded. “He won’t play tomorrow, but he’ll be back in there on Monday.”
Kim is in a tough spot, and so are the Dodgers. They’re trying to juggle multiple players (Kim, Tommy Edman, Andy Pages) who can play center field and other positions too. The lefty Kim also has to cut into Michael Conforto’s playing time to earn some of his at-bats.
But Roberts isn’t blind, so he can see that Kim is passing every test so far with flying colors. And after he homered off a left-handed pitcher on Saturday, it’s harder to deny him playing time purely based on platoon splits.
There’s sure to be some slight disappointment about the decision to hold Kim out the day after his monster performance, but his arrow is pointing up and a few more big games should have him getting regular playing time.
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