Ha-Seong Kim

Ha-Seong Kim

29-Year-Old ShortstopSS
 Free Agent  
Free Agent
Out
Injury Shoulder
Est. Return 4/16/2025
2025 Fantasy Outlook
The Padres decided before this past season to play the defensively-superior Kim at shortstop full-time and shift Xander Bogaerts to second base. Unfortunately, Bogaerts was forced to move back to short in mid-September after Kim suffered a season-ending right shoulder injury which eventually required labrum surgery. An impending free agent, Kim's recovery is expected to drag on after Opening Day, and he will enter 2025 with fantasy eligibility only at shortstop on most platforms. A late start to the season and the fact that he's returning from major shoulder surgery could impact his already-middling power. The good news is Kim should remain a nice source of stolen bases regardless of where he winds up, and odds are he'll get a ballpark bump if he leaves Petco. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
From Preseason
$Signed a four-year, $28 million contract with the Padres in December of 2020. Declined mutual option in November of 2024.
Declines mutual option
SSFree Agent  
Shoulder
November 2, 2024
Kim (shoulder) declined his $8 million mutual option for 2025 on Saturday and entered free agency, Jeff Sanders of The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
ANALYSIS
Kim's decision to enter free agency was an expected one after he changed agents to be represented by the Boras Corporation in early October. The 29-year-old infielder slashed just .233/.330/.370 with 47 RBI across 470 plate appearances this season and is expected to miss the first month of the 2025 campaign after undergoing shoulder surgery Oct. 11, though he should still be a safe bet to attract a salary larger than the $8 million he passed on.
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Batting Stats
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2024
2023
2022
2021
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2023 MLB Game Log
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2022 MLB Game Log
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
13
10
9
37
12
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
7
11
13
3
4
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2022
 
 
+18%
OPS vs LHP
2024
 
 
+6%
OPS vs LHP
2023
 
 
+31%
OPS vs LHP
2022
 
 
+12%
OPS vs LHP
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2022vs Left .807 511 59 13 58 23 .277 .367 .440
Since 2022vs Right .684 1167 143 26 108 49 .238 .323 .361
2024vs Left .732 132 15 3 12 7 .248 .351 .381
2024vs Right .688 338 45 8 35 15 .228 .322 .366
2023vs Left .896 191 25 8 28 11 .302 .376 .521
2023vs Right .682 435 59 9 32 27 .241 .340 .341
2022vs Left .765 188 19 2 18 5 .270 .369 .396
2022vs Right .681 394 39 9 41 7 .243 .304 .377
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Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2022
 
 
+12%
OPS on Road
2024
 
 
+18%
OPS on Road
2023
 
 
+5%
OPS on Road
2022
 
 
+14%
OPS on Road
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2022Home .680 814 91 18 64 29 .236 .326 .354
Since 2022Away .760 864 111 21 102 43 .263 .346 .414
2024Home .639 226 29 5 18 9 .210 .311 .328
2024Away .757 244 31 6 29 13 .255 .349 .409
2023Home .730 301 39 8 27 13 .257 .338 .392
2023Away .766 325 45 9 33 25 .264 .363 .403
2022Home .659 287 23 5 19 7 .234 .325 .333
2022Away .754 295 35 6 40 5 .268 .324 .430
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Stat Review
How does Ha-Seong 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
0.75
 
BB Rate
12.3%
 
K Rate
16.4%
 
BABIP
.261
 
ISO
.136
 
AVG
.233
 
OBP
.330
 
SLG
.370
 
OPS
.700
 
wOBA
.312
 
Exit Velocity
87.9 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
24.9%
 
Barrels/PA
3.4%
 
Expected BA
.245
 
Expected SLG
.352
 
Sprint Speed
24.0 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
39.8%
 
Line Drive %
17.6%
 
Fly Ball %
42.6%
 
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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Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Ha-Seong Kim See More
RotoWire Roundtable: 2025 Fantasy Baseball Top-300 Rankings
34 days ago
Shohei Ohtani takes the top spot in the first edition of the 2025 RotoWire roundtable rankings, but his lead is a very slim one.
All-Bust Fantasy Team: Position Players
66 days ago
Bo Bichette finished outside the top 50 at the shortstop position in 2024, missing half the year due to injury and falling well short of his usual standards when available.
Super Early 2025 Top 300 Rankings
85 days ago
James Anderson ranks the top 300 players for 2025 fantasy baseball leagues, in which Brewers' phenom Jackson Chourio is pushing towards the first round!
The Z Files: Strategy and Rankings for the Underdog Fantasy Playoff Contest
92 days ago
Todd Zola examines strategies for the Underdog postseason contest, and notes that while Shoehi Ohtani may be the best player, you may not want to take him first overall.
Past Fantasy Outlooks
2024
2023
2022
2021
Some saw Kim having a good year for a loaded San Diego lineup but we are not aware of anyone who projected him to be the third-best fantasy batter on the team over the course of the full season. Kim set a professional career-best with his 38 steals and also surfaced the power and run-scoring abilities the marketplace hoped for from him in 2022. He has increased his ability to accept walks in each of his three seasons with San Diego and his batting average has improved in kind. His batting average has room for improvement, and it must come from him improving his outputs against righties as he has been a below-average producer against righties (95 wRC+ last season) while excelling against southpaws (148 wRC+ last season.) The triple position eligibility is going to further push up his draft day price for fantasy managers whereas he was one of the more incredible fantasy bargains this time last year.
After looking overmatched the previous season, Kim settled in as the Padres regular shortstop, posting a 105 wRC+ while playing excellent defense. His biggest strides came against curveballs and sliders. In his rookie season, Kim fanned at a 35% clip against breaking pitches, but last season he lowered it to 17%. Kim fanned at a 19% rate both years facing fastballs. He doesn't hit the ball hard, but Kim puts it in play with a pull approach allowing him to take advantage of the shorter distances down the left field line in Petco Park. Kim was successful on 12 of 14 stolen base attempts. He's a candidate to run more as he further acclimated to MLB pitching. It's unclear where Kim will play, as the Padres have some moving parts, including the return of Fernando Tatis, who may move off shortstop. If Kim is a regular, he's mixed-league worthy, but be ready if he doesn't play as much as last season.
After a career of impressive numbers in the KBO, Kim struggled to adjust to the quality of major-league pitching as he hit .160 off non-fastballs and just .230 off the hard stuff. Breaking balls were particularly troublesome for him as he saw them 30% of the time and hit .159/.178/.341 off that pitch classification. His defensive prowess was his saving grace last season. Kim showed the ability to play three positions and was even 6-for-7 in his steal attempts when he did manage to reach base. He is a bottom-of-the-order hitter in his current form, and it will be interesting to see how he and the league adjust to pitchers no longer hitting as Kim was particularly bad hitting in front of pitchers last season (.177/.241/.317). Whereas his value was inflated last season, he is more properly priced in drafts this season.
Kim is something of a rarity as a player coming over from Asia in his mid-20s. The 25-year-old was a star in the KBO, hitting .281 or better in six straight seasons while averaging 26 homers and 26 steals. This past year was his best yet, as he hit a career-high 30 HR while slashing .306/.397/.523 and stealing 23 bases. He also demonstrated excellent control of the strike zone, walking more than he struck out. Showing such a well-rounded skill set while primarily playing shortstop indicates he's definitely ready to make the jump, though there are questions that come with the step up in competition. He's likely a fringy defender at best at shortstop at the MLB level, and he won't be asked to play that position much after signing with the Padres. Kim should close to play every day between second, third and the outfield, and the major-league equivalencies paint him as a solid cross-category asset.
More Fantasy News
Hoping for mid-April return
SSSan Diego Padres  
Shoulder
October 12, 2024
Kim (shoulder) is hoping to be ready for game action by mid-April, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
ANALYSIS
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Undergoes surgery
SSSan Diego Padres  
Shoulder
October 11, 2024
Kim underwent labrum repair surgery on his right shoulder Thursday, Dennis Lin of The Athletic reports.
ANALYSIS
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Changes agents
SSSan Diego Padres  
Shoulder
October 6, 2024
Kim (shoulder) changed his agents to be represented by the Boras Corporation, Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune reports. He has an $8 million mutual option with the Padres this offseason.
ANALYSIS
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Will undergo shoulder surgery
SSSan Diego Padres  
Shoulder
September 28, 2024
Kim told reporters Saturday that he will undergo season-ending surgery on his right shoulder, AJ Cassavell of MLB.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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Shut down for season
SSSan Diego Padres  
Shoulder
September 28, 2024
The Padres pulled Kim (shoulder) off his recovery program Saturday, AJ Cassavell of MLB.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Being considered by LAD
SSFree Agent  
December 23, 2024
The Dodgers have explored signing Kim, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports.
ANALYSIS
A reunion between the Dodgers and Teoscar Hernandez now appears much less likely than it had been, so the club is eyeing alternatives. As an infielder, Kim would not be a direct replacement for Hernandez, but it's possible the Dodgers will reverse course and ask Mookie Betts to play the outfield rather than the infield. Kim is recovering from shoulder surgery and aiming to return by mid-April.
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