The Dodgers like Korean second baseman Kim Hye-seong. There's a lot to like.

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The Dodgers like Korean second baseman Kim Hye-seong. There's a lot to like.

Published: 19 Mar. 2024, 09:19 Updated: 19 Mar. 2024, 18:03

JIM BULLEY
jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr

Korea's Kim Hye-seong celebrates after hitting a double during an exhibition game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul on Monday. [YONHAP]

The Korean national team may have lost both of its exhibition games against the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers, but for the individual players, appearing at Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul in front of a very international audience was a chance to show what they have to offer.

“Our scouts like the second baseman,” Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters on Monday. “Just the way his body moves. There's some life to the bat and defensively [he] made a nice play out there.”

That second baseman is Kim Hye-seong, and there’s a lot to like.

Kim Hye-seong, 25, is the third big name to come out of the Kiwoom Heroes in recent years. His former double-play partner is Kim Ha-seong, the Gold Glove-winning San Diego Padres shortstop, and he is close friends with the San Francisco Giants’ $113-million outfielder Lee Jung-hoo.

San Diego Padres shortstop Kim Ha-seong hugs former teammate Kim Hye-seong during an exhibition game between the Padres and the Korean national team at Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul on Sunday. [NEWS1]

Like with the two big leaguers before him, the Heroes have already agreed to post Kim Hye-seong to the big leagues at the end of the 2024 season, when he will have played the required seven seasons to make him eligible for recruitment to The Show. And like both Kim Ha-seong and Lee, Kim Hye-seong has the right stuff to make the move.

Kim doubled off Dodgers’ starter Bobby Miller on Monday, lacing a 96 mile-per-hour fastball off the right field wall. He came around to score later that inning. Kim also picked up a knock in Sunday’s pitchers’ duel against the Padres, turning around a 93.9 mile-per-hour sinker for a single off Wandy Peralta.

The pair of knocks are hardly surprising when you look at Kim's numbers.

Kim finished the 2023 season with a .335/.396/.446 line, 29 doubles and seven home runs. His fast footwork saw him steal 25 bases, his sixth straight season with at least 20 bases stolen. From 2021 to 2023, Kim led the league in both hits, at 520, and steals, at 105.

Kiwoom Heroes infielder Kim Hye-seong celebrates after hitting an RBI double during a game against the Hanwha Eagles at Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul on April 2, 2023. [NEWS1]

As the Dodgers’ scouts noted and like his former teammate Kim Ha-seong, Kim Hye-seong is also a defensive workforce. He won the KBO’s inaugural Fielding Award last year and has won Golden Gloves for the last three years, one at shortstop and two at second base.

Kim Ha-seong’s continued success in the big leagues could also help the younger infielder’s chances. With so many Korean players in the Majors falling into either the pitcher or slugger camp, Padres General Manager A.J. Preller admitted Sunday that the club underestimated the shortstop’s defensive ability.

"Honestly, I think when we scouted Ha-seong and brought him to San Diego, I think we thought he was going to be a solid defender and a very good offensive player," Preller said, according to Yonhap News Agency. "Obviously in the KBO, we saw his progression over the years and becoming a really good offensive player. And I think pretty early on when he got to spring training in Arizona that first year, I think we realized we probably underestimated his defensive ability that he had a chance to be one of the better defenders, not just on our team but maybe in the league.”

But with Kim Ha-seong’s success now clear to see, MLB teams are not likely to sleep on another KBO infielder.

Kim Hye-seong was not the only Korean player to impress during the exhibition games. Both Roberts and Padres manager Mike Shildt commented on the pitching they faced at Gocheok Sky Dome.

Kim Taek-yeon throws a pitch during the sixth inning of a game between Korea and the Los Angeles Dodgers at Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul on Monday. [NEWS1]

Roberts pointed to Kim Taek-yeon, the Doosan Bears’ 18-year-old right-hander drafted at No. 2 last year, who faced some mighty bats in the form of Teoscar Hernandez and James Outman and fanned them both.

“I was talking to James Outman and he said that the ball just had tremendous life to it and he pitches at the top of the zone," Roberts said. "I think he was 91 [miles per hour] but it played up to 95, 96. I was really impressed with the arms, first and foremost. I think there's a lot of arm talent from that Korean team over there."

Moon Dong-ju heads to the dugout at the end of the first inning of a game between Korea and the San Diego Padres at Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul on Sunday. [YONHAP]

Shildt, meanwhile, was impressed by 20-year-old Moon Dong-ju, despite a shaky start with four walks and a wild pitch that gave up the game’s only run.

"The starter had a nice arm, settled down after a little bit of overthrowing, and got out of that first inning," Shildt said.

The Padres also picked up on 23-year-old Won Tae-in, who pitched second and threw two scoreless innings while striking out Manny Machado, Jurickson Profar and Tyler Wade.

Won Tae-in, right, talks to Tyler Glasnow during a youth clinic held at Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul on Saturday. [YONHAP]

"Everybody came back and said, 'What a changeup this guy's got,'" Shildt said. "The composure, the pitching was really good. Obviously, they're fundamentally sound, played the game right, played the game clean. Just a good baseball game."

With the exhibition games now completed — the Dodgers beat the KBO’s Kiwoom Heroes 14-3 and the Korean national team 5-2, while the Padres beat Korea 1-0 and the LG Twins 5-4 — the two MLB teams will return to Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul for the 2024 MLB Seoul Series, the official opener of the 2024 MLB season, to be played as a two-game series on Wednesday and Thursday.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]