It’s already extensively recognized that the Korea Baseball Group’s Kiwoom Heroes will publish infielder Hyeseong Kim for main league groups this offseason. A precise timetable, nevertheless, hadn’t come into focus till right this moment. Kim himself tells Jee-ho Yoo of South Korea’s Yonhap Information Company (X hyperlink) that he expects the posting to be formalized subsequent week. He’s planning to journey to america early subsequent week prematurely of the method.
Kim, who’ll flip 26 in January, has lengthy appeared the a part of an fascinating entrant into the offseason free agent market. The previous double-play accomplice of present massive leaguer Ha-Seong Kim, he’s sufficiently old and has sufficient expertise within the KBO to be thought-about a “skilled” underneath Main League Baseball’s worldwide free agent parameters. That enables him to signal a serious league deal of any size and for any quantity (in contrast to, say, NPB star Roki Sasaki, who’ll be restricted to a minor league take care of a bonus that falls inside the pointers of MLB’s hard-capped worldwide newbie system).
The left-handed-hitting Kim has turned in 4 straight above-average seasons on the plate within the KBO, batting over .300 with an on-base share of a minimum of .372 in every of these 4 seasons. He’s gentle on energy however did join on a career-high 11 house runs this previous season, including in 26 doubles and 4 triples. Hitting the ball over the fence has by no means been Kim’s calling card, nevertheless. He’s developed right into a KBO star resulting from his excellent bat-to-ball expertise, plus velocity and plus glovework. Over the previous 4 seasons, he’s swiped 135 bases in 155 makes an attempt (87.1% success fee) and lowered his strikeout fee every season, culminating in only a 10.9% strikeout fee in 2024.
Total, Kim carries a .321/.381/.418 over the previous 4 seasons, together with a .326/.383/.458 batting line this previous season. He’s considered a plus defensive second baseman who can deal with shortstop and has ample expertise at each positions. The Mariners have already been linked to Kim, and he must command a good bit of curiosity from different groups as soon as his free company begins in earnest. The A’s, Royals, Pirates, Braves, Yankees and Brewers make various ranges of sense as speculative suits.
As soon as the Heroes formally publish Kim, it is going to open a 45-day window throughout which he and his representatives at CAA Baseball can negotiate freely with all 30 main league groups. Any crew that indicators Kim will probably be paying not solely the agreed-upon assure to the participant himself, however a proper posting/launch payment to the Heroes. That payment, which is in on high of the contract, is the same as 20% of the contract’s first $25MM, plus 17.5% of the subsequent $25MM and 15% of any {dollars} thereafter. Extra earnings, equivalent to efficiency bonuses/incentives or salaries on possibility years fall underneath that purview as soon as they’re unlocked or exercised.
