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| LA 다저스 김혜성. ImagesYonhap News |
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| LA 다저스 김혜성. ImagesYonhap News |
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"Kim Hye-sung (LA Dodgers) continues to show his strengths."
The Major League website MLB.com released the results of its third mock vote for the Rookie of the Year this season on the 17th (Korea time). Kim Hye-sung ranked fourth in the National League. Kim Hye-sung, who ranked second in the second mock vote last month, proved that she is well surviving the major league survival competition by ranking at the top again this time.
Since her first call-up to the Major League in May, Kim Hye-sung has been listed at the top every time as a result of mock voting for the Rookie of the Year. Even when Dodgers manager Dave Roberts intermittently uses platoon rather than full-time, the fact that Kim Hye-sung is well-received in the Rookie of the Year vote means that he is doing well.
Kim Hye-sung hit .339 (38 for 112) with two home runs, 13 RBIs and an OPS of 0.842 in 48 games. Roberts has left-handed batter Kim Hye-sung mainly facing right-handed pitchers, continuing his show of force by batting 0.455 (5 hits in 11 at-bats), one home run and three RBIs against left-handed pitchers. There are even voices in the U.S. media urging Roberts not to use Kim Hye-sung as a half-baked player anymore.
Regarding Kim Hye-sung's fourth place, MLB.com said, `Kim Hye-sung is down two spots from the previous mock vote, but that's because his competitors have gone up very high. Kim Hye-sung is still showing his strengths. He is showing tremendous value with his baserunning ability, maintains a batting average of 0.339 (although he has only nine long balls compared to 11 stolen bases), and is so versatile that he has played 28 games as a second baseman, 16 games as a center fielder, and 8 games as a shortstop.
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| LA 다저스 김혜성. ImagesYonhap News |
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| LA 다저스 김혜성. AP Yonhap News |
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Roberts expected to use Kim Hye-sung more actively in the second half of the year. This is due to Enrique Hernandez's injury departure.
MLB.com recently said Hernandez was on the injured list with an elbow injury. Although it is not enough to be considered a key player, Kim Hye-sung played a full game in just six games in June, and in July, he played full-time in seven of the 12 games played by the Dodgers, expecting Kim to get more opportunities in the future.
Jacob Misorowski (Milwick Brewers), a monster pitcher who appeared like a comet, took the top spot in the National League Rookie of the Year. He swept 19 first-place votes. In second place was Atlanta Braves catcher Drake Baldwin, who received nine first-place votes. Third place is Miami Marlins catcher Austin Ramirez.
Ahead of this season, Kim Hye-sung drew high expectations by signing up to $22 million (about 30.6 billion won) for 3+2 years with the Dodgers, the winner of last year's World Series. During the spring camp, he was unable to enter the opening roster and spent time tempering in Triple-A teams as he failed to adapt to the balls of major league pitchers, but every play proves that his time in Triple-A was not in vain since he was called up to the Major League. The Dodgers are showing their willingness to continue to use Kim Hye-sung by trading players who overlap with Kim Hye-sung and clearing veterans such as Chris Taylor and Austin Barnes one by one. Kim Hye-sung is receiving favorable reviews without missing the opportunity she gained hiply.
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| Kim Hye-sung playing with Shohei Ohtani (left) of the LA Dodgers. ImagesYonhap News |
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This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
