“Kim has been San Diego’s most valuable player this season 온라인카지노“
Kim ‘Awesome Kim’ Ha-seong (28, San Diego Padres) continues to be praised by the local media. The San Diego Union-Tribune, a local newspaper in San Diego, USA, conducted an interview with Kim on the 20th (below) and captured his growth story.
Kim signed with the Dodgers after the 2020 season, but it wasn’t easy for him to fully adjust to the major league stage as he was limited to a backup role. The result was a .202 batting average with eight home runs, 34 RBIs, and six doubles.
But after improving on his .251 average with 11 home runs, 59 RBIs and 12 stolen bases last year as the starting shortstop, Kim is now an integral part of the San Diego lineup, batting .264 with 11 home runs, 33 RBIs and 18 stolen bases this year as the starting second baseman, and is already a front-runner for the National League Gold Glove for second base, thanks to his exceptional defence.
“In my first season in the majors, I just focused on one day at a time because there were so many things I had to adjust to,” Kim told the publication. It was a learning process for me. I was just busy taking it day by day. It was so hard,” he said of his struggles in his rookie season, when he batted just .202.
“Kim has gone from a bench player who barely hit in the double digits (.202) two years ago to one of San Diego’s most valuable players this season,” wrote the San Diego Union-Tribune, “Of course, the fact that he’s being talked about as such means a lack of production from the Dodgers’ main players, but that doesn’t take away from what he’s done.”
“With a wRC+ of 116, a metric that does not measure offensive production, Kim is third on the team behind Juan Soto (147) and Fernando Tatis Jr. (136), and thanks to his top-notch defence, he is third in fWAR (wins above replacement on FanGraphs) at 3. 1, behind Tatis Jr. (3.6 fWAR) and Soto (3.3 fWAR),” he said, using statistics to illustrate how valuable Kim is on offence and defence.
Kim’s increased value as a hitter can be attributed to his ability to handle hard-hit pitches and his patience at the plate. As the San Diego Union-Tribune notes, “Kim is batting .282 (13-for-46) against pitches clocked at 95 miles per hour (153 km/h) or higher. “He’s inducing more pitches than any other player in the majors,” it continued, “after batting .148 in 2021 and .229 in 2022. He is drawing 4.41 pitches per at-bat.”
At the plate, Kim has continued to improve, combining an aggressive swing with calm patience. “When I became a professional player, I wanted to be a hitter who produces a lot of walks,” he said. “As I gained experience in Korea, I became that type of hitter, and I’m trying to do the same here.”