It's time we started talking more about Ha-Seong Kim
Ha-Seong Kim has flown under the radar and quietly become one of the most valuable players in MLB.
Baseball on the global stage has continued its takeover of Major League Baseball, particularly from Asian countries.
Thanks to the likes of Shohei Ohtani, Ichiro Suzuki, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Yu Darvish and Masataka Yoshida, as well as infectious personalities like Ji-Man Choi, American baseball fandom is finally realizing the stardom that exists in Eastern society.
However, while attention goes to the current stars like Ohtani, Darvish and Yoshida, there’s another star flying under the radar on the west coast.
Ha-Seong Kim, the 27-year-old infielder, is having his second consecutive elite season for the San Diego Padres. In 96 games, the native of Bucheon, South Korea is slashing .270/.363/.447 with a 126 wRC+ and 5.1 Baseball-Reference WAR (rWAR).
He’s even flashed the pop that yielded six-straight 19-plus-homer seasons in the KBO, with a career-high 14 home runs –– shattering his previous high of 11 in 150 games last year.
Since the start of 2022, he’s slashing .259/.340/.407 with 71 extra-base hits (25 homers) and 10.1 rWAR in 246 games.
As steady as he’s been at the dish, he’s even better in the field. In roughly 2,500 career innings on defense, he’s posted 47 defensive runs saved, 19 outs above average and 6.4 defensive WAR (dWAR) –– good for a staggeringly elite 18.8 DRS per 1,000 innings, 7.6 OAA/1,000 and 2.6 dWAR per 150 games.
He’s even an elite baserunner, as his 2.7 Base Runs (BsR) ranks in the top 30 of 145 qualifiers.
Considering the star talent on his team, it’s no wonder he’s flown under the radar since his big-league debut in 2021. With the likes of Darvish, Xander Bogaerts, Juan Soto, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado, there’s only so much attention to give.
However, not only does he lead the Padres in both rWAR and FanGraphs WAR (fWAR), but he’s also tied for seventh in the majors in fWAR and tied for first in rWAR with NL MVP frontrunner Ronald Acuña Jr.
He’s quite literally become one of the best, and most valuable, players in all of baseball in the span of three seasons yet has zero accolades at the MLB level.
Not that there’s an incentive to trade him, but San Diego could nearly completely revamp its farm system by moving the soon-to-be 28-year-old either at this year’s deadline or this winter.
His $7 million price tag, with a mutual option for 2025 at the same price, has him as one of baseball’s biggest bargains in an era where contracts are lapping the field of previous eras –– even for role players.
Kim’s flowers are long overdue. While he doesn’t have the light-tower power of Machado or Soto, nor does he have the personality of Tatis Jr., nor does he have the notoriety of Darvish, he’s simply very good at literally everything.
It’s time to talk about it.
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