How much will Roberts know about Kim Hye-sung's batting sense that he broke Roh-heater when half of the six extremely difficult away games are left-handed starters?

Jun 24, 2025

LA Dodgers Kim Hye-sung will play in an away game, which is compared to 'opposite' for the first time since the big league call-up. ImagesYonhap News

Kim Hye-sung maintained his hitting sense by hitting four consecutive games in which he recently started. ImagesYonhap News

LA Dodgers' Kim Hye-sung will enter the schedule of facing the biggest crisis in the first half of the year amid growing voices of expanding opportunities to play.

The Dodgers will play six consecutive away games against the Colorado Rockies and Kansas City Royals starting on the 25th. Coors Field, Colorado's home, is a good place for Kim Hye-sung to raise his batting sense further in favor of hitters. On the other hand, Kansas City's home Kaufman Stadium is a disadvantageous stadium for batters.

The Park Factor, which was viewed as a score this season, is 132 for Coors Field, which is 32% more points on average than other stadiums. Kaufman Stadium is 83 and is the second of the 30 stadiums below. In other words, it is a stadium with about 17% less points, and the park factor for home runs is 61, making it the hardest to hit a home run.

In fact, the characteristics of the stadium are not something Kim Hye-sung should pay much attention to. This is because it is the same condition for players who play in the same stadium.

Rather, we should pay attention to the opposing starting pitcher.

Right-hander Herman Marquez, who Kim Hye-sung will meet in the first of three consecutive away games against Colorado. ImagesYonhap News

The Colorado rotation is expected in the order of Hermann Marquez, Chase Dolander and Austin Gomber. One of them is Gomber. Both pitchers, who start Game 1 and 2, have a six-run ERA, but Marquez has continued his good pitching with a 2.94 ERA in the last seven games, and Dolander has also achieved quality starts in the last two consecutive games. They are tough starters.

Kansas City, the next team to meet, is a team with a solid rotation. He ranks third among 30 teams with a starting ERA of 3.34, and Noah Cameron, Seth Lugo and Chris Boubitch, who are playing against the Dodgers, are all showing off their ERAs in the 2-point range. Cameron and Vuvic are left-handers, and right-hander Lugo is 4-5 with a 2.93 ERA in 14 games this season.

In other words, it should be considered that Kim Hye-sung will be excluded from the starting lineup as three of the six away games are left-handed.

Kim Hye-sung has never been in the starting lineup in a game where the opposing team started a left-handed pitcher this season. He played as a substitute seven times in the game and only had one hit in two at-bats.

Kansas City Royals Chris Boubich is a Cy Young Award nominee. AP Yonhap News

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts recently increased the frequency of praise for Kim Hye-sung, saying, `There will be more opportunities to play,' but that does not mean that Kim Hye-sung should be appointed against left-handed pitchers. Kim Hye-sung hit 3 for 4 against left-handed pitchers, but this is not a consideration for Roberts when constructing the lineup.

However, regardless of this, Kim Hye-sung continued her batting sense by hitting hits in four consecutive games she recently started.

If she starts in the right-handed selection match, Kim Hye-sung will see a second baseman or center fielder. If Kim Hye-sung goes to second base, Tommy Edman will be out. If Kim Hye-sung plays center field, Andy Parz moves to left field, and Edman can play as second baseman.

The question depends on how often Roberts uses left fielder Michael Confoto. Confoto, who was hired for $17 million a year last winter, has a batting average of 0.165 and an OPS of 0.565. It's an extreme slump, but he's forced to play the main role due to his ransom.

If Confoto is fully turned into a bench member, Kim Hye-sung will be conditioned to participate almost every day. This is because Kim Hye-sung and Edman can be divided into second baseman and center fielder. The Pazs can see not only center field but also left and right field, so they can start in any situation.