Shocking! I survived in March... In the end, LAD Kim Hye-sung entered the failed opening entry, and what are the remaining tasks?
Mar 12, 2025
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LA Dodgers' Kim Hye-sung (26) hopes of entering the opening entry of the Major League went up in smoke. Now Kim Hye-sung will start the 2025 season with Triple-A Oklahoma City Comets under the Dodgers.
The Dodgers announced the list of 31 players to participate in the opening series in Tokyo, Japan, after an exhibition game against the Cleveland Guardians at Glendale Camelback Ranch in Arizona on the 12th (Korea time).
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Although it was expected to some extent, the announcement of his trip to the minor leagues has shocked him a lot. The pride of the KBO league's .300 hitter is completely crumpled. Kim Hye-sung tried to enter the opening entry of the Major League by completely modifying his batting form, but to no avail.
In the end, he failed to gain the trust of the Dodgers coaching staff in hitting. Kim Hye-sung, who signed with the Dodgers for three years-12.5 million dollars (about 18.2 billion won) through the posting system in January, was initially expected to be used as the team's main second baseman or main backup utility agent.
In particular, as the Dodgers traded second baseman Gavin Lux to the Cincinnati Reds shortly after acquiring Kim Hye-sung, there was a hopeful prospect that Kim Hye-sung's big league position could expand. In fact, the Dodgers coaching staff seems to have planned to use Kim Hye-sung in various ways in the big leagues during this period.
However, Kim Hye-sung collapsed the Dodgers coaching staff's plan by showing batting skills that did not meet expectations in real life. When the exhibition game began, he showed that he was unable to target the balls of Major League pitchers who changed at all. At the recommendation of the Dodgers coaching staff, he created a form that did not raise his right foot high when hitting, but rather collapsed the existing batting balance.
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After hitting the bottom at 71, he showed a sense of hitting gradually. There were home runs, and there were also well-hit balls that went out of the infield that had not existed before.
In March, when he began to adapt to the new batting form, he clearly showed an upward trend in hitting. In the nine games he played in March, he batted 0.333 (5 hits in 15 at-bats), walked two, struck out four, and recorded an OPS of 0.945, showing signs of reproducing his stat from his KBO league days.
But it was too late. Most of the Dodgers' coaching staff had already confirmed the list of players to play the opening series in Japan. Kim Hye-sung's belated efforts did not have enough impact to change the list. If this pace had been maintained from the beginning of the exhibition game, it could have received a different result.
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What's fortunate is that you'll start with Triple-A. This means that the Dodgers coaching staff did not have any hope. If Kim Hye-sung adapts more to the batting form and continues the upward trend in the batting sense shown in March, a big leak call-up is possible earlier than expected.
If you had been informed to go down to Double A or below, it might have been difficult to expect a big league call-up within this year. Roberts and the Dodgers coaching staff do not seem to have judged that Kim Hye-sung's skills are that insufficient.
The result is already out. There is no need to be disappointed or discouraged. You can solve the homework in front of you step by step. What Kim Hye-sung has to do now is clear. It is just learning the batting form ordered by the Dodgers coaching staff to achieve meaningful results in Triple-A. Defending and maintaining are fundamental. In order to enter the big league, you need to consistently play games and set a batting average of around 300.
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For now, we have to find a clue from here. Lowering the strikeout rate means you can compete with pitchers with ease at bat. You should be able to calmly pick out the drawers or cut the balls that enter the unfavorable ball count. If the strikeout rate is lowered, there is a possibility that the batting average will increase stably.
Fortunately, he began to show confidence at bat, adapting to the form he changed in March. We need to continue this pace. It is necessary to see the minor league game as an extension of the exhibition game and pour out all your energy to change the coaching staff's evaluation of him.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
