Kim Hye-sung, who stole a home run from a left-handed pitcher, is Rojas, who is weak in left-handed pitchers, convincing in starting platoon?

Jun 02, 2025

Kim Hye-sung, who stole a home run from a left-handed pitcher, is Rojas, who is weak in left-handed pitchers, convincing in starting platoon?
LA Dodgers Kim Hye-sung enters the New York Yankees game at Dodger Stadium on the 2nd (Korea time) as a pinch hitter in the 8th inning and manages to avoid the opposing right-hander Devin Williams' body ball. ImagesYonhap News



Kim Hye-sung, who stole a home run from a left-handed pitcher, is Rojas, who is weak in left-handed pitchers, convincing in starting platoon?
LA Dodgers Miguel Rojas. AFP Yonhap News
It was as expected when left-handed pitchers came out as starters.

Los Angeles Dodgers' Kim Hye-sung played as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the eighth inning, trailing 3-7 in the final game of a three-game home series against the New York Yankees at Dodger Stadium on the 2nd (Korea time). When the Yankees put right-hander Devin Williams on the mound in the eighth inning, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts used left-handed hitter Kim Hye-sung instead of right-handed hitter Miguel Rojas.

However, Kim Hye-sung struck out swinging on a 95.2 mile fastball over Williams' high strike zone on the outside of her fifth pitch with a ball count of 2B2S.




Kim Hye-sung, who stole a home run from a left-handed pitcher, is Rojas, who is weak in left-handed pitchers, convincing in starting platoon?
Kim Hye-sung is leaning his head and regretting after striking out swinging in the bottom of the eighth inning. ImagesYonhap News
The Yankees starter was left-hander Ryan Yarbrough. Instead of Kim Hye-sung, Rojas started as the 9th shortstop.

Kim Hye-sung was able to start as the 9th shortstop in 'Thanks to', where Yankees right-hander Will Warren took the mound the previous day. Amid the overall team's strong batting lineup, Kim Hye-sung gave a powerful 18-2 victory by swinging four hits, two RBIs, three runs and one walk in four at-bats.

In particular, he not only showed off his impressive batting by hitting a superior two-run home run against left-hander Brent Hedrick in the bottom of the second inning, but also showed off his brilliant play by playing a double play as a shortstop in defense and catching Aaron Judge's hit as a center fielder.




However, Roberts excluded Kim Hye-sung without much thought when the left-hander was the starting pitcher.

Even so, Rojas didn't hit well against Yarbrough. He went 0 for 2. Rojas is batting .218 this season, and is rather weak against left-handed pitchers with 0.182 (8 hits in 44 at-bats) against left-handed pitchers and 0.256 (11 hits in 43 at-bats) against right-handed pitchers.

On the other hand, Kim Hye-sung is showing a strong batting average of 0.400 (18 hits in 45 at-bats) against right-handed pitchers. Headrick was the first to face a left-handed pitcher the day before, but he took away his second home run of the season. At this rate, there was nothing strange about Kim Hye-sung playing as a starter.




Critics point out that Roberts, who has been overly obsessed with the traditional opinion that left-handed hitters are weak against left-handed pitchers, is losing convincing power in his platoon method of thoroughly excluding Kim Hye-sung when selecting left-handed pitchers.

Kim Hye-sung, who stole a home run from a left-handed pitcher, is Rojas, who is weak in left-handed pitchers, convincing in starting platoon?
Tani Shohei enters his first at-bat in the bottom of the first inning. AP Yonhap News
Unlike the first and second games, the Dodgers' batters were generally silent. Yankees starter Yarbrough pitched six innings with four hits, five strikeouts, and one run to win three games of the season. Shohei Ohtani, who had two home runs in the first game and two hits in the second game, was sluggish with no hits and one strikeout in four at-bats, while Teoscar Hernandez, Freddie Freeman and Will Smith, who were in the second to fourth, were also hitless and silent in four at-bats.

In addition, Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto lost three ⅔ innings, collapsing with seven hits, three walks and four runs. Yamamoto, who is considered a candidate for the NL Cy Young Award, saw his ERA soar from 1.97 to 2.39.

However, Max Muncy hit two hits, one RBI and one run from three times at bat, including a home run, showing good performance in three consecutive home runs, eight RBIs and four runs. Andy Pazs and Tommy Edman also contributed to scoring by hitting one solo home run each.

After three consecutive games with two wins and one loss, the Dodgers marked 36 wins and 23 losses and maintained their lead in the NL West. The gap with the second-place San Diego Padres (33-24) has narrowed to two games.

Kim Hye-sung, who stole a home run from a left-handed pitcher, is Rojas, who is weak in left-handed pitchers, convincing in starting platoon?
Kim Hye-sung, who participated as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the eighth inning, entered shortstop in the top of the ninth inning. ImagesYonhap News


This article was translated by Naver AI translator.