San Diego Padres’ Ha-Sung Kim, 28, is making a name for himself in Major League Baseball. His high school coach described him as “a player with a different mentality.”
Kim failed to win a Major League Baseball Silver Slugger award. But he did become the first Korean to win a Major League Baseball Gold Glove.
SSG Landers head coach Kim Sung-yong, who coached Yatapgo, said, “He has a different mentality. Even in high school, if he set his mind to something, he would accomplish it. He worked really hard,” said Kim, looking back on his high school days.
After graduating from Yatap Go, he made his professional debut in 2014. He made it to the big leagues after winning the Golden Glove for shortstop in 2020, 카지노사이트 hitting .306 with 30 home runs, 109 RBIs, and 23 stolen bases. It was his third consecutive Golden Glove in the KBO.
“He doesn’t like to lose,” Kim said, “He has good defensive fundamentals and is a creative player. He trained really hard. When he came to the professional stage, he gained more strength and entered the major leagues as an upgrade.”
In his first big league season in 2021, he batted .222 with eight doubles, eight home runs, 34 RBIs and six stolen bases in 117 games.
He didn’t make a lot of noise. But in 2022, he batted .251 with 11 homers, 59 RBIs, and 12 stolen bases in 150 games. He adjusted and began to make his presence felt in his second season with double-digit home runs and stolen bases.
This season, he posted career highs in hitting metrics while playing one of the best defenses in the majors. On Tuesday, Major League Baseball announced the winners of the 2023 Louisville Silver Slugger Award, which recognizes the best hitter at each position, live on MLB Network.
Kim joins Cody Bellinger (Chicago Cubs), Mookie Betts (Los Angeles Dodgers) and Spencer Steer (Cincinnati Reds) as finalists in the National League (NL) utility category.
Kim had a career-high season this year, batting .538 (17-for-140) with 17 home runs, 60 RBI, 84 runs scored, 75 walks, 124 strikeouts, a .351 on-base percentage, .398 slugging percentage and a .749 OPS in 152 games, but it was Bellinger who won the award.
Splitting time between center field (84 games, 686 innings) and first base (59 games, 421⅔ innings) this season, Bellinger batted .881 with 26 home runs, 97 RBIs and an OPS of .499 in 130 games.
Although Ichiro Suzuki, the only Asian player to win a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger together, will have to wait for another chance, Kim says he was as good as any player in the game this year.
“He’s going to have to work really hard to compete with the guys who play in the major leagues. “He’s a player who thrives on that kind of competition,” Kim said. “He’s been a starter since he was in high school, and he was a top-class player. He’s not a big guy, but he’s smart. He has a clear sense of purpose.”
“If you have a goal, you can do anything,” Kim said. On June 6, Kim was named a finalist for the 2023 Rollins Gold Glove National League (NL) in two categories: second base and utility.
Nico Horner (Chicago Cubs) was named the winner of the second base award, but Kim beat out Mookie Betts (Los Angeles Dodgers) and Tommy Edmon (St. Louis Cardinals) for the final utility award. He became the first player to win a KBO Golden Glove and a Major League Baseball Gold Glove.
He is the first Korean player to win the award, which was established in 1957. He is the second Asian player to win the award, joining Japanese legend Ichiro Suzuki. Ichiro was an outfielder, while Kim is the first Asian to win the award as an infielder.