God, why this ordeal? Kim Ha-sung, who was stepping on Excel to return to the Major League, suddenly broke with a hamstring!

Jun 14, 2025

God, why this ordeal? Kim Ha-sung, who was stepping on Excel to return to the Major League, suddenly broke with a hamstring!



'God, why are you going through such an ordeal again?'

A significant variable appeared in the schedule of Tampa Bay Rays infielder Kim Ha-sung (30)'s return to the Major League, which seemed to be going smoothly. All schedules were suspended completely due to a sudden hamstring injury while playing in a rehabilitation game after overcoming a shoulder injury. The timing of returning to the big league has become unclear.

MLB.COM, the official website of Major League Baseball, suspended its rehabilitation schedule on the 14th (Korea time) 'Kim Ha-sung felt pain in his right hamstring. After a five-day break, he will go back to his rehabilitation schedule,' he reported. Mark Topkin, MLB reporter for the Tampa Bay Times, a Tampa Bay local newspaper, also confirmed on his personal SNS channel that `Kim Ha-sung is expected to play in a rehabilitation game in Triple-A of the minor league again after a five-day break.'




Fortunately, Kim Ha-sung's hamstring injury does not seem to be serious so far.

In the worst case, hamstring injuries are divided into muscle rupture to simple tension and inflammation, and it is diagnosed locally that it is not a muscle rupture. In fact, Tampa Bay coach Kevin Cash also said "Kim Ha-sung will resume his rehabilitation schedule after a five-day break." It can be seen as a simple pain caused by hamstring muscle fatigue.

But I can't jump to conclusions. The hamstring area is quite sensitive. No matter how minor the pain, depending on the player, the pain may remain for a long time, and accordingly, there is a possibility that the recovery of the injury will be delayed. It is a part that can greatly affect the condition of the performance. You should watch your condition after resting as much as possible.




God, why this ordeal? Kim Ha-sung, who was stepping on Excel to return to the Major League, suddenly broke with a hamstring!
Tampa Bay Rays Kim Ha-sung starts the game against Memphis on the 27th (Korea time) and hits a heavy hit at bat in the bottom of the 5th inning. Photo = MiLB.TV Capture
As a result, the timeline for Kim Ha-sung's return to the Major League, which was expected to be around the end of this month, will be postponed to around July.

Kim Ha-sung injured his shoulder in a game against the Colorado Rockies on August 19 last year when he was a member of the San Diego Padres. go through rehabilitation afterwards Eventually, he underwent surgery for the right shoulder joint in October and was out for the season. Kim Ha-sung, who has been steadily rehabilitating since then, came to the FA (free contract) market after the end of the season and signed a contract with Tampa Bay for up to $31 million per year.

Tampa Bay took some sort of adventure. Even though Kim Ha-sung is likely not to return until May, he gave the team the highest annual salary. Kim Ha-sung also played for Tampa Bay for a year and then made a transfer in order to make a big hit through FA's return.




Both Tampa Bay and Kim Ha-sung took risks and signed a contract. In order for this to succeed, Kim Ha-sung must return to the Major League as soon as possible and show his power as the Gold Glove winner in the National League (NL) utility category in the 2023 season.

Kim Ha-sung's rehabilitation was smooth. Since the 27th of last month, he has been a member of Triple-A Durham Bulls in the minor league under Tampa Bay and has been put into Triple-A practice. The move is aimed at checking whether Kim Ha-sung, who has been rehabilitating for about seven months since undergoing shoulder surgery in October last year, is ready to play in the Major League again.

God, why this ordeal? Kim Ha-sung, who was stepping on Excel to return to the Major League, suddenly broke with a hamstring!
Kim Ha-sung is training to hit with his big league teammates ahead of the home game against the Colorado Rockies on March 29 (Korea time). UPI Yonhap News
Since then, Kim Ha-sung has appeared in 12 Triple-A games and focused on restoring his sense of practice to return to the big league. He had a batting average of 0.211 (8 hits in 38 at-bats) with four RBIs, eight runs, eight walks and five strikeouts in 12 games. In the beginning, he was sluggish at bat, but he was showing signs of recovering his batting sense as time went by. He also had four doubles.

In particular, he has recorded multiple on-base hits in the last five games, gradually increasing his chances of entering the big league. He also played as a second baseman and shortstop, showing that there was no problem in defense at all.

However, all rehabilitation schedules were suspended due to sudden hamstring pain. Rehabilitation games can be played up to 20 games. If Kim Ha-sung returns normally after a five-day break, he will play a rehabilitation game in Triple-A again from the 19th to the 20th. Assuming that he shows robustness here, he can return to the big leagues as early as the end of June. He can return in early July without having to rush.

However, if hamstring pain continues or interferes with condition recovery, the story may be different. Everything depends on what state Kim Ha-sung will return to after five days. Attention is focusing on whether Kim Ha-sung will be able to quickly overcome the bad news of hamstring pain.





This article was translated by Naver AI translator.