Outfielder Hyun Soo Kim returned to his native South Korea upon conclusion of the regular season and met with the media to discuss what was, in his own words, a “disappointing” second season in the Majors (link via Jee-ho Yoo of the Yonhap News Agency). Despite a rough campaign split between the Orioles and the Phillies, the 29-year-old Kim made it clear that his hope is to secure another opportunity to prove himself in the Major Leagues.
“It’s not something I can control,” Kim told reporters. “Obviously, I’d love to stay in the majors. But I felt my determination alone can’t do the trick. I’ll just try to do the best I can.”
Kim signed a two-year, $7MM contract with the Orioles in the 2015-16 offseason on the heels of an amazing nine-year career in the Korea Baseball Organization. In 4768 plate appearances with the KBO’s Doosan Bears, Kim batted .318/.406/.488 with 142 home runs, earning the nickname “The Hitting Machine” along the way. That nickname looked rather appropriate after Kim’s first season in Baltimore; he slashed a hearty .302/.382/.420 with six homers, 16 doubles and a triple in 346 plate appearance with the Orioles.
Kim, though, was shielded almost entirely from left-handed pitching in the Majors, and a slow start to the 2017 season (plus Trey Mancini’s early breakout) led to even more inconsistent playing time. He hit just .232/.305/.288 in 141 PAs with the O’s before being traded to the Phillies in late July — largely as a means of offsetting some of the salary of Jeremy Hellickson, who went from Philadelphia to Baltimore in that deal.
Playing time was even more scarce for Kim in Philadelphia, as the Phillies were evaluating younger options such as Nick Williams, Aaron Altherr and Rhys Hoskins in the outfield corners throughout the season’s second half. Ultimately, Kim’s sophomore campaign in the Majors produced a paltry .231/.307/.292 triple slash.
Kim took ownership of his struggles when speaking to the Korean media, though he did indicate that his part-time/platoon usage was a role to which he had a difficult time adjusting. “It was frustrating when I’d get three hits one day and sit on the bench the next day,” Kim admitted. “But it’s all on me. I just didn’t have it.”
Kim didn’t dismiss the notion of accepting a minor league contract when asked about a possible return to the Majors, but he noted that it would depend on the composition of the interested team’s roster. His time in Philadelphia made clear to him that at-bats will be difficult to come by on an up-and-coming team that is rife with outfield prospects ready for big league evaluation. A clearer path to playing time than the one he had in Philadelphia sounds as if it’ll be important to Kim when weighing offers this winter.
If there are ultimately no offers to his liking, it stands to reason that he would draw widespread interest from KBO clubs in free agency. But, Kim is still relatively young — he’ll play all of next season at the age of 30 — and is just a year removed from a 116 OPS+ and 120 wRC+ in nearly 350 MLB plate appearances. He’s demonstrated solid plate discipline and contact skills in the Majors as well, walking in 9.9 percent of his plate appearances while striking out at a 16.6 percent clip. While his defense didn’t grade out well in left field, there’s still reason to believe he could be a productive bat — at least in the same platoon capacity he had with the O’s in 2016.
I do hope he gets another opportunity. It seemed like Showalter hated him for some reason this year. With close to everyday at bats, I don’t see why he can’t revert back to his 2016 season output.
Showalter didn’t use him because (A) Mancini was better, (B) Seth Smith was better, (C) Trumbo was coming off a season where he led the majors in HRs, and (D) Kim is a poor OF, having a good glove but limited range, poor route taking, and a below average arm. He showed offensively in 2016 that he could hit, but he has limited power, doesn’t do well against power fastballs or left handers, and is slow on the basepaths. He’s basically Seth Smith, but a little weaker in all facets of the game. No one in the organization knew that Mancini was going to adjust to hitting MLB pitching and playing LF the way he did, but when he did it was Kim that was the odd man out. It is unfortunate, because I think that the O’s could have used what Kim brought to the table, but all things being equal (and they weren’t), Showalter would have been loathe to put Smith and KIm in the outfield together on a regular basis.
This year regarding Kim should be distinguished from last year. Back really seemed to be displeased with the guy, which I don’t think helped his confidence or acclimation at all. And yet he had scratches in 2016 where he hit wonderfully — using the entire field and really seeming to get on base a lot. To see him be so distrusted by Buck was really disappointing, ultimately leaving more questions than answers.
Has anyone seen hyun soo Kim’s defense in the outfield? He has no arm whatsoever. He doesn’t have a whole lot of power. He knows how to take a walk and he runs okay. Best case scenario he’s a 1 WAR player who can’t hit lefties, though I doubt he’s that. He didn’t show any power in Camden yards or citizens bank. They’re pretty good hitting parks
he also regularly played Craig Gentry and Joey Rickard ahead of Kim. After 2016, I would’ve expected a regular platoon for Kim at the very least… he wasn’t even offered that.
Good post.
Matt Stairs said Kim has a lot of unrealized power that he can easily exhibit in BP but Kim needs to make changes to his approach at the plate to make that power come out. That’s what’s really missing. If Kim had a .200 ISO he would be desirable.
That seems to be the acceptable dig against foreign players. Not enough power or not enough Ichiro.
MLB teams still have not learned to accept Asian players. It’s not racism, it’s just baseball?
Kim slashed 302/382/420 his first year of MLB pitching.
How is it not accepting them? Hyun soo Kim won’t be much of a ball player without a little pop in his bat. He’s a minus defensively and he’s not a threat on the bases. It’s a legitimate issue. IF he could repeat his first year he’d be a fringe 4th OF option/platoon player but he can’t play center field. He had a 345 babip his first year and he played in Camden yards. Hard for me to believe that’s not his ceiling.
Of course, everything is racist or offensive in 2017. It couldn’t have anything to do with his poor performance.
And Kevin Maas hit .252/.367/.535 with an OPS+ of 150 his first year of MLB pitching..
Jerome Walton and Tuffy Rhodes also come to mind..
.200 ISO would nearly double what he did in his first year. Before his last year in the KBO he wasnt even a 20 hr guy. 20 hr guys in the KBO rarely if ever hit that many in the majors. He’s not posting a .200 ISO. He looks like he could be Seth Smith at best. His arm truly is terrible, he’d have to hit his way into the lineup and I don’t see him suddenly becoming a guy with pop/
Kim was one of those bones of contention between Showalter and the front office. They signed him to a 2-year contract, and I remember very early in spring training 2016 he fell out of favor with Showalter, and he was pretty much placed at the end of the bench from that point on.
Didn’t they try to send him to AAA after his horrible spring but because of a clause in his contract he was able to refuse the assignment? Telling Showalter he was not going to be cut probably didn’t help win the old skipper over..
I gotta think that once Showalter got a sample of Kim’s skills he called Dombrowski immediately and said, “Did you guys even bother to scout this Kim before signing him? I hear they called him “The Hitting Machine” in Korea. I wanna submit a work order because this hitting machine ain’t workin.”
Why would Showalter call Dombrowski?
With slash lines like that, he’d be studly in the Giants OF, lol!
For real though, if he’s producing like he did in 2016, he’s worthy of a contract and maybe that would be a team like SF who I would imagine they’d be heavy on pursuing all options for the outfield….
I don’t think he’s that poor an outfielder.
https://www.mlb.com/video/kims-diving-play-robs-gurriel/c-1430827483?tid=6479266
Furthermore, I don’t think he’s been given a chance. In his 2nd year he rarely played consistently, and consequently of course his average took a hit. Playing every other day or playing a day and not playing for 3 is not conducive to productive hitting in any league.
One Diving catch, nice. He’s a bad outfielder. A runner on 2nd and a single hit in Kim’s direction is a run every time. He’s not throwing anyone out, the arm is bad.
6 steps and a clumsy dive does not a great outfielder make. A good outfielder doesn’t even need to make a dive on such a play.