Seattle Mariners Target Hyeseong Kim Has Reportedly Returned to Korea
The Seattle Mariners are still searching for players that can fill their holes at first, second and third base.
With around a month and a half until pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training, time is running out for the Mariners to fill out their roster by the time Opening Day rolls around on March 27, 2025. And there's recently been an interesting update about one of Seattle's targets.
Middle infielder Hyeseong Kim, who was posted toward the beginning of December from the Korean Baseball Organization, has been on the Mariners radar for a while. It was reported weeks before he was posted that Seattle had scouted the KBO Gold Glover and a recent report said that the Mariners, Los Angeles Angels and San Diego Padres, were the three teams that had expressed the greatest interest in signing him.
Per a translated story from Lee Seong-hun of Korean news site SBS News, Kim has returned to Korea after being in the states since Nov. 29 to negotiate with teams.
The report came with the clarification that there were no new updates from Kim's team about negotiations with major league organizations.
Kim has a deadline of Jan. 3 to agree to terms with a major league team. If he doesn't, he'll be back playing in the KBO for 2025. But Kim's return to Korea might not be indicative of whether or not he anticipates signing an MLB deal.
Per the story, Kim has received military serivce benefits from the Korean. And Kim came back to Korea around the same anticipated return date he listed on documents he submitted that gave him permission to travel to the U.S.
Kim is the only KBO infielder ever to win a Gold Glove as a second baseman and shortstop. In eight years in the KBO, Kim has a .304 batting average with 37 home runs, 386 RBIs and 211 steals.
kim hyeseong, finally 🥺 pic.twitter.com/ht8fRFzllm
— dzah (@hesmyloverboi) March 18, 2024
Kim's return to Korea might not be alarming when taking into account the information about his documentation.
But considering there's been hardly any news on how negotiations have gone with Kim, it's an intriguing update to watch.
Kim has until 2 p.m. PT on Jan. 3 to sign with a team. Seattle has been unusually quiet since the regular season ended on the transaction front, and Kim might end up being the club's first "big" offseason signing.
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