Finally, a shortstop!
I hoped and hoped that the Braves would get Kim in the offseason; after a hugely disappointing 24 games in five months, he’s ours now.
Kim would have been a marquee free agent heading into the offseason, as a slick-fielding shortstop who had received downballot MVP votes in 2023, but he had some horrible luck for his walk year, tearing his shoulder labrum late in the season and finally getting shoulder surgery in October. No one knew how long it would be before he could contribute in 2025, so many contending teams who needed a shortstop decided to stay away from him – including us, to my chagrin.
The Rays signed him to a relative pillow contract, 2 years / $29 million, with performance bonuses for more than 326 plate appearance that he hasn’t a prayer of meeting. He finally debuted this year in July; not only did he suffer a hamstring injury during rehab, he went back to the IL two more times in July and August with back issues.
The Rays decided they had had enough of him, and made him available to anyone who wanted to risk the cost of his $16 million salary for 2026. Finally, Alex Anthopoulos had his man.
While 2025 has been an injury-riddled disaster for Kim, I’d like to write a bit about why I wanted him so badly.
Kim was posted after the 2020 season. At the time, he was a 24-year old and one of the biggest stars in the Korean Baseball Organization; Baseball America rated him as the top prospect in the league.
Kim is expected to be posted after this season and will command considerable interest. He’s a 24-year-old shortstop who hit .307/.389/.491 with 19 home runs, 104 RBI and 33 stolen bases in 37 attempts for Kiwoom last year. Kim is a solid all-around player who projects to stick at shortstop. He is a good athlete with good instincts at the position and has the average arm strength to stay on the left side of the infield. He projects to be an above-average hitter and has enough power to hit 12-15 home runs per year in the majors. Kim is likely to face an adjustment period at the plate when he first arrives in the U.S., but he has the athleticism and twitch to adjust and eventually hit major league velocity. He is a plus runner who adds value on the bases as well. Kim projects to be an everyday shortstop who makes an impact on both sides of the ball and on the basepaths. He would be a Top 100 Prospect if he signed today.
Speed, defense, and a bit of power: a five-tool shortstop. The San Diego Padres eagerly snapped him up, and he immediately displayed a good glove, though he stayed around the Mendoza line in 2021. But by 2022, he proved the scouting report entirely correct as he improved his hitting to right around league average while maintaining sterling defense, which made him a 4-5 win player.
In 2023, he had his best season in the majors, boosting his walk rate and getting a helpful spike in his HR/FB rate; in all, he was one of the better-fielding shortstops in the majors, hit 17 homers with 38 stolen bases, and he got a handful of votes at the bottom of the MVP ballot, one vote point ahead of Ozzie Albies, who had enjoyed his own career year: 33 HR, 109 RBI, 126 OPS+.
(Note: Baseball-Reference likes his defense more than Fangraphs, and they give him about one more win per year in value over the period. From 2021 to 2025, BB-Ref gives him 15 WAR, while Fangraphs gives him 11. Also note that much of his value in San Diego came at second base, but he’s still viewed as a very strong defensive shortstop.)
Kim’s numbers dipped in 2024, but his underlying metrics didn’t really change so much while his HR/FB and BABIP both plummetted. He has terrific command of the strike zone, with a blood-red Baseball Savant page showing his terrific Chase%, Whiff%, K%, BB%, and LA Sweet Spot%.
But now that he’s coming back from shoulder surgery, with very little time healthy on a major league field in the past 11 months since his operation, major questions remain about his tools. Will his arm strength remain strong? What will happen to his offensive profile generally? While he’s a decent enough hitter as a middle infielder, his bat wouldn’t play particularly well elsewhere on the field.
His value is tied up in his ability to play shortstop.
This is another gamble, and it’s another expensive gamble on a cheap player, like Jarred Kelenic and Rafael Montero; but also like Marcell Ozuna, Jorge Soler, and Joc Pederson. Live by the sword, die by the sword, particularly when you aren’t allocating payroll to signing 1-A free agents.
When Ha-Seong Kim signed his contract in the spring, it included an opt-out which he can exercise after the World Series this October. Given the year he’s had, it’s highly unlikely that he would exercise it; by the same token, though, that means that the Braves are signing themselves up to pay a player an amount of money for next season that he would be unlikely to receive on the open market.
After all, if he really expected he’d get $16 million next year, he’d probably choose to opt out and see if he could do better!
So, given that, and given Anthopoulos’s general track record, I bet that the Braves will begin negotiations with Kim regarding a potential extension. There are no other real starting shortstops in the organization, given that Allen isn’t a starter and Alvarez isn’t a shortstop. (The most advanced shortstop prospect in the system is probably John Gil, a 19-year-old in Single-A. He is a real prospect, though, and worth knowing.)
If the Braves do try to extend Kim, there’s one final wrinkle to consider. Suppose his shoulder strength is not what it was, and he needs to move off shortstop. The only position that would really make sense would be second base. Ozzie has a club option for 2026 that is now virtually certain to be picked up. He has another club option for 2027, and then his extremely long contract will be over. What the team is willing to offer Kim will be heavily influenced by the way the team feels about Ozzie’s future in a Braves uniform.
For the meantime, though, Kim has a monthlong chance to make a first impression, and if he hits well this month, there’s a chance we might be seeing a lot more of him. I’m excited to see what he can do.
Thanks, Alex. To me this is a calendar-leverage move by the Braves, taking advantage of a time that only a poorly-performing, playoff-missing team could take to fill a team hole for next season. It may not work, of course, but it is much cheaper than Bichette will be, at least for next season. The potential to create a longer-term Albies replacement if needed is one I hadn’t considered.
JonathanF, I think that’s right – though $16M is a decently expensive bet to take on a flier who’s just being given away. Not that I’m complaining! I obviously have complained for years about the refusal to spend what it costs to fill our hole at shortstop. This may or may not work out, but it’s exactly what I’ve hoped for.
Ha! Joke will be on you when we sign Bichette to a huge deal to play 2B!
Only one team in this century has had a team in which nobody who played shortstop during that game hit a home run. That includes 2020. That team was the 2010 World-Series-losing, Wash-led 2010 Texas Rangers. (Elvis Andrus was their everyday shortstop, but several other guys either started a few games or subbed in.)
The Braves were in position to be the second team, and still are. But I’m pretty sure Kim will connect between now and the end of the season, barring injury.
I like the move, although I was strangely curious to see if Nick Allen could have his Rafael Belliard moment:
Of course, the regular shortstop that season was Blauser, who hit 17.
One is STILL the onliest number.
Onliest. I fixed this once last night.
Recapped.