Hyeseong Kim

26-Year-Old Second Baseman2B
2025 Fantasy Outlook
Kim will be the third Kiwoom Hero to make the jump from KBO to MLB in five years, following his former teammates Ha-Seong Kim and Jung Hoo Lee. But while those two were stars in Korea with the upside to become above-average regulars or more at the highest level, the same can't quite be said for Hyeseong, who signed a three-year, $12.5 million deal with the Dodgers to occupy a super-utility role. Compare Hyeseong and Ha-Seong's final KBO seasons for example: both hit over .300, both struck out at the exact same 10.9% clip, and both played good middle-infield defense. Hyeseong did so at second base rather than shortstop like Ha-Seong, but the bigger difference is their power. Both managed career-high homer totals before making the jump, but for Ha-Seong, that meant 30, and for Hyeseong that meant just 11. Ha-Seong has topped out at 17 homers in MLB, so Hyeseong seems unlikely to get anywhere close to that. Expect him to make plenty of contact and show off the speed which helped him average 34 steals over the past four seasons, but the lack of pop in his bat probably means he'll hit at the bottom of the lineup when he plays. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
Rest of Season From Preseason
#382
ADP
$Signed a three-year, $11.5 million contract with the Dodgers in January of 2025. Contract includes two-year, $10 million option ($1.5 million buyout) for 2028 and 2029 seasons. Contract includes $500,000 in incentives for 500 plate appearances in 2028 and 2029.
Expected to see semi-regular starts
2BLos Angeles Dodgers
May 19, 2025
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts estimated that Kim will make around 3.5 starts per week while the team looks to build in routine days off for Tommy Edman, Teoscar Hernandez and Michael Conforto, Matthew Moreno of DodgerBlue.com reports.
ANALYSIS
Edman and Hernandez both recently returned from the injured list, while Conforto has stayed healthy but has produced a .577 OPS on the season and should at the very least find himself on the bench against left-handed pitching on a more frequent basis. Roberts' comments imply that Kim will serve as a part-time starter, with Andy Pages and the aforementioned three players also likely to see slight drops in playing time due to the logjam in both the infield and the outfield. The 26-year-old Kim has certainly earned a steady role based on how he's performed since being called up from Triple-A Oklahoma City on May 3; through his first 14 games with Los Angeles, he's slashing .452/.485/.581 with a home run and three stolen bases.
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Batting Stats
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2025
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
4
8
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2023
 
 
-100%
OPS vs RHP
2025
 
 
-100%
OPS vs RHP
2024
No Stats
2023
No Stats
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2023vs Left 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Since 2023vs Right .859 43 10 1 5 4 .366 .395 .463
2025vs Left 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2025vs Right .859 43 10 1 5 4 .366 .395 .463
2024vs Left 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2024vs Right 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2023vs Left 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2023vs Right 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
More Splits View More Split Stats
Minor League Splits View Minor League Split Stats
Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2023
 
 
+105%
OPS at Home
2025
 
 
+105%
OPS at Home
2024
No Stats
2023
No Stats
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2023Home 1.263 17 5 1 3 1 .467 .529 .733
Since 2023Away .615 26 5 0 2 3 .308 .308 .308
2025Home 1.263 17 5 1 3 1 .467 .529 .733
2025Away .615 26 5 0 2 3 .308 .308 .308
2024Home 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2024Away 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2023Home 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2023Away 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
More Splits View More Split Stats
Stat Review
How does Hyeseong Kim compare to other hitters?
This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • BB/K
    Walk to strikeout ratio
  • BB Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
  • K Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
  • ISO
    Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
  • AVG
    Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
  • OBP
    On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
  • SLG
    Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
  • OPS
    On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
  • wOBA
    Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Hard Hit Rate
    A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
  • Barrels/PA
    The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Expected BA
    Expected Batting Average.
  • Expected SLG
    Expected Slugging Percentage.
  • Sprint Speed
    The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
  • Ground Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
  • Line Drive %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
  • Fly Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.
BB/K
0.25
 
BB Rate
4.7%
 
K Rate
18.6%
 
BABIP
.438
 
ISO
.098
 
AVG
.366
 
OBP
.395
 
SLG
.463
 
OPS
.859
 
wOBA
.380
 
Exit Velocity
85.1 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
24.2%
 
Barrels/PA
2.3%
 
Expected BA
.264
 
Expected SLG
.389
 
Sprint Speed
26.3 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
63.6%
 
Line Drive %
18.2%
 
Fly Ball %
18.2%
 
Advanced Batting Stats
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Additional Stats
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Defensive Stats
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Batted Ball Stats
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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers
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More Fantasy News
On base five times in win
2BLos Angeles Dodgers
May 15, 2025
Kim went 3-for-3 with a double, two walks, two RBI, one stolen base and four runs scored in Thursday's 19-2 win over the Athletics.
ANALYSIS
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Swats first career homer
2BLos Angeles Dodgers
May 15, 2025
Kim went 2-for-2 with a solo home run in Wednesday's 9-3 win over the Athletics.
ANALYSIS
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Not in Tuesday's lineup
2BLos Angeles Dodgers
May 13, 2025
Kim is not in the Dodgers' starting lineup against the Athletics on Tuesday, David Vassegh of AM 570 LA Sports reports.
ANALYSIS
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Two hits in win
2BLos Angeles Dodgers
May 5, 2025
Kim went 2-for-4 with an RBI, one run scored and a stolen base in Monday's win over Miami.
ANALYSIS
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Swipes first big-league bag
2BLos Angeles Dodgers
May 4, 2025
Kim stole a base as a pinch runner in Sunday's 4-3 loss to Atlanta.
ANALYSIS
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Flashing leather in camp
2BLos Angeles Dodgers
February 17, 2025
Kim has impressed with his defense during the first few days of spring training, Sonja Chen of MLB.com reports.
ANALYSIS
Kim has been one of the club's bright spots on defense early on in camp, notably drawing admiration from his skipper. "He's a lot stronger than I expected," said manager Dave Roberts. "I think he's one of the lowest body fat guys in our camp. I think that he can certainly win ballgames with his defense alone." Kim has won four Golden Glove Awards while playing in the KBO, earning three at the keystone and one at shortstop during the 2021 campaign. Questions still remain about how the 26-year-old will adjust to facing major-league pitching, but Kim has made a strong first impression thus far.
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