by Megan Garcia
Hyeseong Kim was revered as one of the best players in the Korean Baseball Organization before he signed with the Dodgers in the offseason. But he expected he would need to adapt to a new way of playing baseball at the Major League level.
The 26-year-old, four-time KBO Gold Glove winner started the transition period long before the 2024 season — his final year with the Kiwoom Heroes. His defensive skills are expected to be a major asset for the Dodgers. But a learning curve is expected at the plate.
Kim has already noticed that one of the biggest differences he will encounter is a jump in velocity from MLB pitchers compared to KBO pitchers.
And it’s something that the Dodgers are helping him get adjusted to.
“We’re going to try to get him out there as much as we can to calibrate on big league stuff,” said manager Dave Roberts. “But he’s already shown me that he’s a quick study and that he’s got aptitude.”
Kim has observed the higher velocity during batting practice at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona — even before the Spring Training opener on Thursday. The varied movements have also been an eye-opener for the middle infielder in his first big league Spring Training.
“I faced a lot of good pitchers today and they had their own strength,” Kim said of his live batting practice session at Camelback Ranch on Tuesday. “(I saw) not only higher velocity, but I was able to face better breaking balls and off-speed pitches than the KBO. It was nice to see what kind of pitchers I’ll be facing this season.”
The switch within Kim is about to flip once Spring Training games begin on Thursday with the regular season rapidly approaching.
“I’ve been working on what I’m practicing, what I’m learning and drills and different mechanics,” Kim said. “Now that it’s game time, I want to focus on getting results instead of focusing so much on a lot of different things. I just want to compete and focus on making sure I get the right results.”
His new teammates have also had a role in boosting Kim during Spring Training. Mookie Betts started a “Let’s Go Dodgers” chant with fans to create a game-like situation for Kim at Camelback Ranch. Kim cracked a smile before he charged a hard grounder at second base and fired it to Freddie Freeman at first base.
“My personality is I’m all in on baseball. I’m 100% in and it seems like the clubhouse itself, a lot of the guys are exactly the same way,” Kim said. “They want to get better, and I have a huge desire and passion to be the best player I can be and that’s the same vibe I’m getting from all of them.”
Dodgers camp stories: Hyeseong Kim is acclimating to the Dodger way was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.