Hyeseong Kim was considered one of the best bats in Korea, and when it was announced that Kim was going to be making the move to Major League Baseball, many teams were linked as potential fits.
Guessing no one guessed this one as his ultimate landing spot.
The Los Angeles Dodgers have agreed to terms with utility player Hyeseong Kim on a three-year contract for $12.5 million with a two-year club option for 2028 and 2029. The Dodgers designated catcher Diego Cartaya to make room on the 40-man roster.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) January 3, 2025
The team options will reportedly be for $22 million for the 2028-2029 seasons. That team option will have to be picked up together; meaning it essentially becomes a new two-year contract.
Let’s take a look at what Kim brings to the Dodgers, and whether or not it has a chance to be relevant in fantasy.
Who is Hyeseong Kim, and what kind of numbers did he put up in Korea?
Kim spent eight years in the Korea Baseball Organization, and the 25-year-old was with the Kiwoom Heroes for the last six of his run in the KBO. He’s steadily become one of the best hitters in the league, and even after scuffling as a teenager, he ends his time with a slash of .304/.363/.403 in 953 career games.
Solid numbers, but Kim has really taken off over the last four seasons. He hit .304 with 46 stolen bases in 2021, and he followed that breakout campaign with slashes of .318/.373/.403 in 2022, .335/.396/.446 in 2023, and .326/.383/.458 last year; all while stealing 89 bases over those final three seasons and only being caught 16 times in that timeframe. He also won three Golden Gloves from 2021-2023, once as a shortstop and twice as a second baseman.
Simply put, Kim has been one of the most productive players in the KBO, and now he gets a chance to show how well his skill set plays at the major-league level.
What are the strengths of Kim’s game?
It doesn’t take a genius to know what Kim’s best assets are. As you can guess from those numbers, the infielder has a contact-oriented game; one that emphasizes putting the ball into play. He struck out just 62 times in 567 plate appearances in 2024, or just under 11 percent for added context. He also drew 47 walks in that timeframe (8.2 percent), showing that he’s an assertive hitter who will draw a decent amount of free passes. A left-handed hitter, Kim will slash the baseball to all parts of the field, and he’s just as likely to lash a baseball into left-center as he is to pull a ball through the hole between first and second.
Once on base, Kim possesses quality speed, and he reads pitchers well to help him get a good jump on his theft attempts. It also helps him defensively, and while he’s not immune to errors, he has more than enough range to be a quality player at the keystone.
What issues could give Kim trouble?
As you could probably tell from the slugging percentages listed in his stats above, Kim is not known as a power hitter. He hit a career-high 11 homers in 2024, but only one of those came in the second half of the season, and he’s a 5-foot-10, 176-pound infielder whose swing/build is not meant for the long ball. That’s sort of an understatement. Even though Kim does make a good amount of hard contact, the overwhelming majority of it has come on the ground, as his 58.1 percent GB rate in 2024 was the lowest of his career.
Is Kim going to be an everyday player for the Dodgers in 2025?
Define “everyday.”
The Dodgers were not considered among the favorites to land Kim in large part because the Dodgers didn’t seem to need him. Los Angeles had already announced that Mookie Betts was going to make the move full-time to the infield, and the club already has Gavin Lux -- more on him in a second -- and Miguel Rojas along with other options that can play up the middle like Tommy Edman and Chris Taylor. Long story short, the Dodgers being interested in Kim makes sense from a cost perspective, but maybe it was a little surprising to see Kim picking the Dodgers if he wants to lock in that everyday role.
Having said that, there is opportunity here. Lux has shown flashes of what made him the top prospect in baseball not that long ago, but he’s dealt with injuries and hasn’t shown much consistency even when healthy, and he’ll be a free agent at the end of the 2026 season. It would make sense for the Dodgers to deal Lux to a team looking for a second baseman (Seattle maybe?) and acquire help on the farm or perhaps a pitcher that could add depth to a rotation that has had injury issues and then some in the past. Taylor was awful in 2024, and Rojas profiles best as a utility player on a team that is gunning for a second-consecutive championship.
So no, maybe Kim isn’t in the lineup every single day, but it’s hard to believe he’s picking the Dodgers if he’s not going to get a chance to get a good amount of playing time.
Is Kim someone you would want on your fantasy team for 2025?
Probably.
Now, I’m not counting on Kim to be my starting second baseman, and I’m probably having him to be my middle-infielder in standard leagues either. With all due respect to what he’s done in the KBO, this is not the KBO, and it’s more than fair to expect an adjustment period to a league where pitchers throw much harder and there’s a significantly higher amount of quality and quantity. I also have serious doubts he’s going to be able to provide anything more than a dozen homers, which means he’ll have to essentially max out in the average and steal category to be worthy of a starting gig on a fantasy team.
Having said that, I do think there’s reasons to want Kim on your bench. It’s likely that he’ll hit at the bottom of the order to start his career, and while that will provide fewer chances of driving in runs, it’s also an opportunity -- if he can get on base enough to capitalize on it -- to get driven in by Betts, Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernandez. The Dodgers ranked 10th in stolen bases in 2024, and while most of that production came from Ohtani, it seems likely that they’ll let Kim run to put himself into scoring position in front of three Hall of Famers. And again, while the contract doesn’t scream “everyday stalwart,” it’s just tough to imagine Kim joining Los Angeles without knowing he’s going to be on the field more often than not. A potential .300 hitter who could score a (relatively) high number of runs and provide 30 steals is well worth having on your bench. The worst thing that happens is you move on to another option over the summer.
