MLB Insider Offers Vote of Confidence on Korean Free Agent Hye-Seong Kim For Seattle Mariners
The Seattle Mariners could go on a road less-traveled to find an answer to one of their common positions of need.
The Mariners have been reportedly "closely evaluating" KBO (Korean Baseball Organization) infielder Hye-Seong Kim, who will be posted for major league free agency sometime in the following few weeks.
Kim is a player with a similar profile to Seattle lead-off hitter Victor Robles and solid defense at second base — a position of need. He hit .326 with 11 home runs and 75 RBIs with an .841 OPS in 2024. He committed 16 errors in 616 total chances at second base for a .974 fielding percentage.
#KBO announced yesterday that they received a request for
— Joseph Kim (@blackwings2011) October 31, 2024
player status inquiries from #MLB regarding Hye-Seong #Kim
and Baek-Ho #Kang and confirmed that the players are
affiliated with Kiwoom and KT, respectively. Means some MLB
teams are interested in them, but Kang has no… pic.twitter.com/LCLkQvPm2L
MLB Network insider Jon Morosi went on Seattle Sports on Thursday to talk about many topics, including the potential of Kim coming over to the Pacific Northwest.
"I think he'd be fantastic. He is very much a contact-oriented player. We heard the Mariners talk a lot about that a year ago, didn’t quite work out in terms of actually reducing the swing and miss. ... He’s someone that has occasional power, he can handle velocity and would play a very solid second base. And we know what a difficult position that’s been for the Mariners to have some stability."
MLBTradeRumors projects the 25 year-old Kim to earn a three-year, $24 million deal in free agency.
Kim would give Seattle team control at second base for relatively cheap. It would also big departure from what the club has done in the six years since trading from Robinson Cano in 2018.
Kim has played his entire career in the KBO, making his major league ability a question. But his cost and profile could encourage Seattle to go a different route than normal to try and figure out second base.
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