The Kiwoom Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization League officially released infielder Hye-seong Kim on Wednesday. according to MLB.com. Major League Baseball teams now have 30 days, or until January 3, to reach an agreement with Kim, whose age (26 years old in January) and length of service (eight professional seasons) will allow him to seek removal from the amateur ranks. Free agent designation to avoid the earning potential of Japanese right-hander Roki Sasaki.
Kim finished his KBO career hitting .304/.364/.403, with 37 home runs and 211 stolen bases. He set a new season record with eleven home runs last year. He is also a multiple KBO Golden Glove Award winner.
Kim will be the second notable South Korean batsman to join in the last two offseasons. It's been about a year since the San Francisco Giants signed outfielder Young Hoo Lee to a six-year contract worth $113 million. While it seems unlikely that Kim will receive a similar fortune, the Heroes will receive a fee based on the value of his contract:
- Contract value less than $25 million: 20% of the contract value
- Contract worth $25 million to $50 million: $5 million plus 17.5% of the amount over $25 million
- Contract worth more than $50 million: $9.275 million plus 15% of the amount over $50 million
Below, CBS Sports has compiled four more things to know about Kim.
1. Known quantity
MLB front offices are familiar with Kim for a variety of reasons, including that he gained passive exposure through his teammates on the Heroes with some current MLB players.
Kim not only shared a clubhouse with the aforementioned Jung Hoo Lee, but also a middle infield with a free agent shortstop Ha Seong Kim. In fact, Heroes lined these three up in regular roles from 2017 to 2020, after which Ha-Seong Kim headed to the United States to star San Diego Padres.
Ha-Seong Kim has since averaged 4.6 wins above replacement per 162 MLB games; Lee, for his part, was on pace to deliver 0.6 WAR before suffering a shoulder dislocation in his 37th MLB game that required season-ending surgery.
How could Hye-seong Kim fare?
2. Experienced defender, baserunner
Kim is a talented glove maker with plenty of experience on both sides of the second base bag. At the beginning of his career, he played the keystone mainly out of consideration for Ha-Seong Kim. He then moved to the six for the 2021 season. Since then, Kim has returned to second base most days – even though the heroes' situation was briefly unsettled. It stands to reason that an MLB squad could use him at any point if needed.
In addition to Kim providing value on defense, he will likely be an asset on the base paths as well. He has stolen at least 25 bases in each of the last five seasons and has succeeded in 85% of his stolen base attempts over his career.
There is a secondary value to be gained here. But what about Kim's racket?
3. Offensive ceiling concerns
Here, evaluators have questions about how Kim's game will translate to the MLB.
As we mentioned in the introduction, Kim batted .304/.364/.403 with 37 home runs in his KBO career. over time, he showed improved bat-to-ball skills and reduced his strikeout rate to under 11% of his plate appearances in 2024.
Still, Kim's performance metrics aren't encouraging – not compared to his former teammates. Keep in mind that Kim's career ISO of .099 is significantly worse than the numbers of Lee (.151 ISO) and Ha-Seong Kim (.199). Kim's ISO is unlikely to transfer one-to-one with him. Lee had an ISO of .069 in a relatively small sample in the MLB before going down due to injury; Ha-Seong Kim, on the other hand, has a career MLB ISO of .137.
Any kind of slugging decline would catapult Kim into the bottom tier among MLB hitters. That means only three qualified MLB players finished with an ISO below .080 last year: Jacob Young, Sal FrelickAnd Luis Arraez. Both Young and Frelick performed about 15% below the offensive line average, while Arraez remains the modern hit tool king.
So it's possible that Kim's racket is just too easy to play for him to be a normal player. Given this background, which teams would make sense for him?
4. Possible landing sites
Pretty much any team with infield needs could inquire about Kim's services. This group includes: Seattle MarinersSan Diego Padres (who coincidentally will lose Ha-Seong Kim to free agency) and San Francisco Giants. The Los Angeles Dodgers wouldn't seem that likely, but we'll note that manager Dave Roberts recognized that the organization's scouts liked Kim at spring training.
