KANSAS CITY, Mo. – It was more of an acknowledgement than a promise.
“I think that Hyeseong (Kim) has earned opportunities, and I don’t want to get him to lose his mojo and sit for four or five, six days and expect good at-bats,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said recently. “So I think that he’s earning the opportunity to get somewhat of a consistent look, and we’ll go from there.”
Since that comment 12 days ago, Kim has just 11 at-bats and only one start in the past week. Opportunities haven’t been as plentiful as expected, with Tommy Edman limited to the infield for precautionary reasons coming off his ankle injury but Edman started in center field Sunday.
“As we look out, I think because we feel better about Tommy playing the outfield, giving Teo a day, giving Andy a day here or there just kind of opens things up for Hyeseong,” Roberts said Sunday.
“We had a bunch of lefties too. We have to dig a little bit into our roster, who’s on our roster, who we’re facing. I think the one-week snapshot I don’t think is fair.”
The Kansas City Royals starter, Kris Bubic, was the third left-hander in four games and the Dodgers do not seem to trust Kim against left-handed pitching. He has just five at-bats and no starts against lefties.
“I think that’s a fair question,” Roberts said, explaining that Kim’s lack of exposure to lefties is more about the right-handed hitters on the Dodgers’ bench than it is about Kim.
“I think given our roster I think I am going to – to some point – run some right-handed hitters out there, namely Kike’ (Hernandez) and Miggy Ro (Miguel Rojas), to give them opportunities until I don’t. So right now against left-handed pitching, that’s an opportunity for them to get into games. Yeah, he’s showing right now that he’s taking good at-bats against lefties.”
Kim has four hits in those five at-bats against left-handed pitchers, including a home run. Overall, Kim has hit .383 since being promoted from Triple-A – despite the sporadic playing time.
“He is doing everything he can to stay prepared, be prepared,” Roberts said. “He studies. All the information that we get is translated. So he’s a very good student of the game. He obviously eliminated the leg kick in spring training and I think that’s been beneficial. He’s handling velocity. Certainly at times he can be susceptible to spin down below. Even with that, he does a good job of adjusting when pitchers are trying to do that to him. I see adjustments within an at-bat.
“So, like I said a couple weeks ago, he’s earning opportunities.”
OHTANI ‘FEELING FINE’
Roberts said Shohei Ohtani was “feeling fine” after his first multi-inning outing as a pitcher on Saturday.
“There was a lot of effort yesterday so we’ll see how he does today,” Roberts said of Ohtani who threw three pitches at 100 mph or higher.
Ohtani went 4 for 8 with a double, triple and home run as a hitter on his first two pitching days. But he was 0 for 4 with three strikeouts Saturday.
“Just looking back on today, on the pitching side, it went pretty well. I didn’t give up any hits at least in my mind,” Ohtani said through his interpreter after Saturday’s game. “But on the hitting side, I didn’t really have a good approach. So on the days when I do pitch and hit, I compartmentalize it. That’s how I approach the days I pitch and hit.”
ROSTER MOVES
The Dodgers activated right-hander Noah Davis from the taxi squad on Sunday and designated veteran reliever Luis Garcia for assignment. Garcia just returned from a groin muscle injury and pitched in the first two games of the series in Kansas City. He had a 5.27 ERA in 28 appearances for the Dodgers.
In addition, the Dodgers activated right-hander Edgardo Henriquez from the injured list and optioned him to Triple-A Oklahoma City (where he had been on a rehab assignment).
UP NEXT
The Dodgers are off Monday.
White Sox (RHP Shane Smith, 3-5, 3.38 ERA) at Dodgers (RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto (7-6, 2.61 ERA), Tuesday, 7:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM