mttotosite1's Blog
:
January 2024
'ML Challenge' Kim Hye-Sung Already Highly Rated True Story?
POSTED ON
01/17/24
There is already a lot of interest in Kim Hye-sung, 25, who has been granted a major league tryout by the Kiwoom Heroes. Even though she is still a year away from posting, the local American team has evaluated her as a potential big league utility player.
MLB Trade Rumors (MLBTR), which specializes in reporting on transfers within the major leagues, reported on the 17th (KST) that "the KBO League Kiwoom Heroes have decided to post infielder Kim Hye-sung to the major leagues next offseason."
"Kim, who is unrelated to former Heroes infielder Kim Ha-seong, has seven seasons of KBO experience and can sign with any Major League club through the posting system after the 2024 season ends. However, the team that takes her will have to pay a posting fee to Kiwoom."
MLBTR wrote about Hye-sung's strengths, "She has hit triple digits in each of the last three seasons. She has consistently lowered her strikeout rate and increased her walk rate. "He's batted .396 with a .446 on-base percentage in 2023 and .380 with a .405 slugging percentage over the last three years." "He's only hit 14 home runs in that span, but he's hit 67 doubles and 16 triples, and he's stolen 105 of 119 bases in that time. That's an 88.3 percent success rate."
"Ahead of the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC), Baseball America ranked her as the No. 9 international prospect to watch. She has one Golden Glove at shortstop and two Golden Gloves at second base." "Of course, her lack of power could diminish her appeal in the major league market, but she is a left-handed hitter who can play multiple positions and is valuable at the plate."
MLBTR concludes, "Hye-Sung Kim could garner some interest in the major league market next offseason as a speedy, contact-oriented second baseman next winter. 안전놀이터 "For starters, his age is appealing, and he could be an alternative to Glavier Torres, Jose Altuve, and former teammate Ha Sung Kim. It will be interesting to see how he performs in the KBO in 2024."
In addition to MLBTR, Sports Illustrated (SI) was also optimistic about Kim's prospects in the major leagues.
"Kim is 24 years old and will hit the market at age 25," SI wrote. "Kim had a career-high 2023 season, hitting .842 with seven home runs, 57 RBIs, 25 doubles and an OPS of .842. That translates to 172 hits, five home runs, 61 RBIs and 35 stolen bases in 162 major league games. He made his KBO debut in 2017 and is a career .753 hitter with three triples and a .753 OPS."
"Kim won a Golden Glove at shortstop after leaving Kiwoom as a San Diego Padres star. She later switched to second base and won two more Golden Gloves."
Kim's international career was also mentioned. "Kim was a member of the South Korean team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed due to COVID-19. She had eight hits, one stolen base, one RBI and one triple in 13 at-bats. She also went 1-for-2 with a double, three walks, three runs scored, three RBI and one strikeout at the World Baseball Classic (WBC) last March."
Kim realized her professional dream by being selected by Nexen with the 7th overall pick in the second round of the 2017 rookie draft out of Dongsango. In his first-team career, Kim batted .877 with 26 home runs, 311 RBIs, 181 doubles and 501 runs scored in 826 games, and last year, in his seventh year, he batted .335 with seven home runs, 57 RBIs and 25 doubles in 137 games, posting career-high numbers and earning a spot on the national teams for the WBC in March, the Hangzhou Asian Games in September and the Asian Professional Baseball Championship (APBC) in November. He served as captain for the Asian Games and APBC, both of which are age-group tournaments.
Kim also became the first KBO player to win a Golden Glove as a shortstop in 2021 and a second baseman in 2022. He was also honored as a second baseman last year.
After meeting with Kiwoom president Ko Hyung-wook and manager Hong Won-ki, Kim was granted permission to try out for the major leagues through the posting system on Nov. 16.
Kim said, "It's meaningful to challenge for the big stage. As the team supports me, I want to prepare hard for the rest of the year and achieve good results. I will do my best in everything as I always do," she said.
