With regular season MLB play resuming this week, the Dodgers are among all teams making calculated moves and taking potential risks in finalizing their Opening Day rosters.
Perhaps no Dodgers’ move has yielded more criticism than the team’s decision to send infielder Hyeseong Kim back to the Minor Leagues and instead roll with Alex Freeland as their bench infield utility man.
Kim, 27, was among a handful of Dodgers infielders vying for the starting second base spot left empty by an injury to Tommy Edman.
Kim had made it clear it was his goal to start the season in LA, and he was widely expected to be named Opening Day starter.
But the surprise emergence of Spring Training star Santiago Espinal, and the consistent veteran presence of World Series hero Miguel Rojas, made Kim’s margin for error razor thin. And after a rough outing in the World Baseball Classic, Kim’s odds for an Opening Day roster spot quickly became a longshot.
On Sunday, the Dodgers opted to cut Kim from the Opening Day roster and send him back to Oklahoma City to work out some lingering batting issues in a low-pressure environment.
“The main reason why Hyeseong Kim didn’t make the team was he’s still implementing second-year swing changes, and they want to get him consistent at-bats and see him have consistent success with those swing changes,” said Dodgers Nation reporter Doug McKain.
McKain noted that Kim was showed up on the Dodgers roster last season and rode a monthlong hot streak that had fans and the organization salivating. But reality quickly caught up with him.
“When he came up last year in that first month, he hit over .400. Then after that first month, he hit under .200 and really struggled,” McKain said. “The biggest thing that stood out was that he had a strikeout rate above 30%. Their big fear is that they don’t want to have a batter at the bottom of the lineup that can’t get on base.”
With Shohei Ohtani continuing to lead off for the Dodgers, a runner in scoring position is a major factor in the team’s roster calculus and manager Dave Roberts’ overall strategy.
While Kim and his supporters are likely upset by the last-minute roster move, by sending Kim to Triple-A, McKain says the team is actually protecting him long-term.
“I think their big fear with Kim is that they give him runway and he really struggles, and then when Tommy Edman and Kiké Hernandez get back and everyone gets healthy, there’s just nowhere for him to go,” McKain said. “If they send him down, he can’t come back up. So, I think their plan for Kim is—they still really like him as a player—they just want to see him have success down in Triple-A. Then, when he does get that opportunity, he’s better optimized to be able to stay here.”
Why Alex Freeland Made the Opening Day Roster
Instead of rolling with the Korean infielder for Opening Day, the Dodgers opted to go with another of its touted prospects: Alex Freeland.
Freeland is a 24-year-old switch-hitter who is potentially able to play all spots in the infield. His positional versatility is something Roberts and the organization value in many of their bench pieces.
Freeland, however, has not looked particularly inspiring at the plate either. He’s logged five hits in 45 at-bats in Spring Training, as of Monday. His Spring Training batting average is a paltry .111; his career regular season numbers aren’t much better.
Meanwhile, Kim’s Spring Training log includes 11 hits in 27 plate appearances, including one home run, good for .407 average.
But the raw numbers don’t necessarily tell the whole story.
“Basically, with Alex Freeland, they’re saying, ‘We trust him more to draw walks and get on base,'” McKain said. “You saw last night he drew two walks and saw 22 pitches, so they like his at-bat quality. Dave Roberts said as much; it’s just the overall at-bat quality.”
While controversial, the decision to shelve Kim and roll with the younger Freeland doesn’t mean the team doesn’t see a future for the Korean superstar.
“[The Dodgers] just want to put him in the best position to have success at this level,” McKain said. “Right now, the bottom line is they feel like Alex Freeland is going to give them better at-bats than Hyeseong Kim is going to give them.”
Freeland will have his first chance to reward the team’s faith when the Dodgers face off with the Arizona Diamondbacks for the team’s home opener on Thursday. The Opening Day starter at second base has yet to be named.
3 Responses
Kim left camp to play in the WBC. You don’t do that if you don’t have a roster spot. If two guys are on the bubble and one misses two weeks and the other is in camp every day. It’s an easy choice.
I think Robert has something against Hyeseong Kim, if he can insist that Sasaki stays behind to keep his spot, and yet he is not performing well, and his spot is guaranteed. That shows favoritism for his country man from Japan, and that looks racist to me. It’s sad that Robert can select someone who batted 116 and send Hyeseong Kim to the minors who batted over 400. I know the Japanese don’t like the Koreans, and Robert is proving it. It’s a sad day in Dodgeer Nation
I think Robert has something against Hyeseong Kim, if he can insist that Sasaki stays behind to keep his spot, and yet he is not performing well, and his spot is guaranteed. That shows favoritism for his country man from Japan, and that looks racist to me. It’s sad that Robert can select someone who batted 116 and send Hyeseong Kim to the minors who batted over 400. I know the Japanese don’t like the Koreans, and Robert is proving it. It’s a sad day in Dodgeer Nation