LOS ANGELES — Given how Hyeseong Kim has been making an impact for the Dodgers night in and night out, he might just be extending his stay in the big leagues.
From Wednesday’s victory over the A’s through Friday night’s 6-2 loss to the Angels at Dodger Stadium, Kim reached base in nine straight plate appearances, racking up seven hits — including his first Major League homer — and two walks. He scored five runs in that span.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Kim’s streak tied Corey Seager (2015) for the most consecutive plate appearances reaching base by a Dodgers rookie since the team moved to L.A. in 1958. Kim’s streak came to an end when he grounded out to first base in the eighth.
The former KBO star is hitting .452 (14-for-31) with nine runs and five RBIs through his first 13 games.
“He just kind of has a magic wand right now,” manager Dave Roberts said. “He’s taking good at-bats and putting the ball in play. And when you can do that, good things can happen.”
The Dodgers’ offense had been on a roll before being quieted by Angels starter Jack Kochanowicz in the Freeway Series opener, a surge in production that Roberts had attributed to the bottom of the order.
One of the most telling statistics about how the bottom of the order was performing early on: Leadoff hitter Shohei Ohtani had taken only seven plate appearances with runners in scoring position through the Dodgers’ first 17 games.
In an even smaller sample, Kim has been transformative in that regard. Ohtani has 29 RBIs this season, and the teammate he’s driven in the most is Kim (five runs). Other than Kim and Michael Conforto (two runs), Ohtani has not driven in any other runner more than once.
As fate would have it, Kim’s on-base streak ended just before Ohtani left the yard against his former team for his MLB-leading 16th homer.
After joining the Dodgers on a three-year, $12.5 million contract this past offseason following eight seasons in the KBO, Kim began the season with Triple-A Oklahoma City to continue working on his swing. He rode a hot start and earned his first callup to the big leagues on May 3, when Tommy Edman went on the 10-day injured list with right ankle inflammation.
At the time, Roberts said that Kim would mostly serve in a bench role and indicated that it would be a temporary stay in the Majors. But with his production at the plate, speed on the basepaths and versatility in the field, Kim is doing more than enough to give the Dodgers a tough decision once Edman and Teoscar Hernández are back from the IL.
“It’s hard to produce as soon as possible after I changed my swing,” Kim said through interpreter Joe Lee. “You always need to have time to make adjustments and get adapted. After that, I was just following the directions of what the team has been teaching me. It’s been coming along.”
The easiest moves for the Dodgers to make to activate Edman and Hernández would be to option Kim and James Outman, who were the corresponding moves for both IL placements. But if L.A. decides to keep Kim on the roster, the team would likely do so at the expense of one of its veteran bench bats, such as Chris Taylor or Miguel Rojas.
There’s also the question of what’s best for Kim’s development. He would likely not get everyday opportunities on a roster with Edman, whereas he would with Oklahoma City. But through the promotion of top prospect Dalton Rushing, the Dodgers showed that they believe that big league experience can be just as important to a player’s development as regular playing time.
“You can argue that Dalton should be down taking everyday at-bats, or five days a week,” Roberts said. “You could argue that Hyeseong should be playing six or seven days a week. … Or you could be arguing that being here around our guys is more beneficial.”
Kim knows that the decision is out of his hands, so he’s not concerned with how the Dodgers will proceed once they have a healthy position-player group. He’s only focused on playing his game.
“I’m just going to play baseball,” Kim said. “When I’m on the field, I’m just going to play my baseball, try to get on base. It’s hard to speculate, hard to predict what’s going to happen in the future.”
