“I’m having a solid season, but it’s not as good as last year”
The Athletic ranked the top 50 players who will qualify as free agents after the 2024 season ends on the 12th (Korea time). Here, Kim Ha-sung ranked 21st overall.
Prior to the 2021 season, Kim Ha-sung signed a four-plus-one-year, $39 million (about 53.5 billion won) contract with San Diego to enter the big league stage of his dream. Despite receiving a lot in his first season of debut, Kim Ha-sung only hit 54 hits, eight homers, six steals, and a batting average of 0.202 OPS 0.622, and Kim Ha-sung’s position in the 2022 season, when the main shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. underwent banned drug disciplinary action and wrist surgery, has completely changed.
Kim Ha-sung played in 150 games in his second year with 130 hits, 11 homers, 12 steals, a batting average of 0.251 OPS of 0.708, and he had the pleasure of being selected as a final candidate for Gold Glove in the National League shortstop category, and Kim Ha-sung began to be at the center of the trade when San Diego acquired Xander Bogaerts that winter. And he reached the peak of his career last year. Kim Ha-sung became the first Asian infielder to hold the “golden glove” in the utility category, recording 140 hits, 17 homers, 60 RBIs, 84 runs, 38 steals, a batting average of 0.260 OPS 0.749 in 152 games. 먹튀검증
Major League clubs began to pay more attention to Kim Ha-sung for his improved performance over the years, and as many as 17 clubs sought to recruit him through trade in the Stove League last winter. And Kim Ha-sung, who moved to second base with Bogaerts’ acquisition, returned to the “main position” shortstop this year, and set an anchor for the challenge of signing an FA jackpot contract. However, Kim Ha-sung’s performance this year is a little disappointing in both defense and offense.
As of the end of the game on Wednesday, Kim Ha-sung is still recording 88 hits, 10 homers, 45 RBIs, 59 runs, 21 steals, and a batting average of 0.227 OPS of 0.685 in 116 games. He has never recorded a batting average of .300 since the beginning of this year’s season. The biggest reason why Kim Ha-sung’s batting average is staying in the early 20s is that he has been unable to produce an in-play hit by rapidly narrowing his strike zone. Nevertheless, the reason why OPS is not the worst is his pioneering eye.
Kim has 57 walks, ranking first in the San Diego Padres. He is ranked 11th overall in the Major League and 7th in the National League. Jurickson Profar (56), who is ranking second in the team, is closely following Kim, but the gap with third place is as wide as 21. Excluding Sun Ho-an, however, Kim Ha-sung’s index is not very noticeable.
This year’s defense is a bit disappointing, too. Last year, when he won the Gold Glove Award, he had five mistakes in his first season, eight mistakes in his 2022 season, and seven in between second, shortstop, and third baseman, but he already made 11 errors in his position alone this year. On Tuesday’s game, he failed to catch an ordinary ground ball from the beginning of the game, leading to his error. “The Athletic” put Kim Ha-sung at 21st place in the process of selecting the 50th place for players who are eligible for FA.
“The Athletic” said, “Kim Ha-sung had a breakthrough season last year, playing mainly as a second baseman, recording a 0.351 on-base percentage with 23 doubles, 17 home runs and 60 RBIs and 38 steals. And when Mike Shildt took over as the new head coach, Kim Ha-sung returned to full-time shortstop and is playing that role this year,” and introduced Kim Ha-sung, “Kim Ha-sung is in the top 12% of OAA (outcount processing compared to average) and 27% of shoulder strength.”
“The Athletic” said, “Kim Ha-sung has had an aggressively solid season with a 0.327 on-base percentage with 15 doubles and 10 homers and 21 steals this year, but it is not as good as last year,” adding, “Kim Ha-sung has a $7 million mutual option for the 2025 season, but he will reject it.” The media did not pick the expected destination and contract size, but the evaluation of the sluggish Kim Ha-sung ranked 11th among fielders and 21st overall was not bad.
Will Kim Ha-sung, who was expected to sign a “100 million dollars + α” contract until the start of the season, be able to make a dramatic turnaround in the rest of the regular season.