Kim Ha-seong, San Diego\s Best Performance this Year
MLB.com "Kim Ha-seong, Who Overcame the Wall, is San Diego"s Best Performance this Year"
“The most versatile player on the team…he did everything on defense.”
The best performer of the San Diego Padres, a team of stars who failed to advance to the U.S. Major League Baseball (MLB) postseason, is Kim Ha-seong (27).
MLB.com, the American Major League website, looked back on San Diego"s season on the 6th (Korean time) and praised Ha-seong Kim, who overcame the wall, as San Diego"s best achievement this year.
The media regretted, “Kim Ha-seong, whose win contribution (WAR) exceeded 5 compared to replacement players, should have been the ‘high point’ of completing the performance of other big fielders.”
This means that with MLB star players such as Juan Soto, Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Sander Boharz living up to their names, the team would have climbed to a higher level if Ha-Sung Kim had performed well this year.
The media said, “Kim Ha-seong was the most versatile player on the team.
He did everything in defense at second base, shortstop, and third base.
“Although he struggled at the end of the season, he did an excellent job in the leadoff position for four months in the batting lineup.”
Kim Ha-seong’s batting performance this year was a batting average of 0.260, 17 home runs, 60 RBI, 84 runs, 38 stolen bases, and OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) of 0.749. This is the highest figure since his MLB debut.
This year, San Diego Padres finished 3rd in the National League West Division and 6th in the Wild Card with 82 wins and 80 losses, and was eliminated from the postseason competition.
They belatedly gained strength with 20 wins and 7 losses since September, but they had suffered too many losses to make up for it.
San Diego"s goal-loss margin was plus (+) 104, which was higher than that of the Milwaukee Brewers (+81), the team ranked first in the National League Central Division.
Nevertheless, the fact that they were eliminated from the postseason competition can be interpreted as the result of scoring a lot of points when winning and showing weakness in close games.
The media selected "winning close games" as something that San Diego needs to improve in the 2024 season, and said, "There is no clear formula, but it must be done to improve performance.
First, based on the performance at the end of the season when the bullpen was strengthened and good results were achieved.
“It must be done,” he argued.
If we were to compare the situation in San Diego this year to our proverb, it would be "a treasure worth at least three beads."
Despite having numerous star players, they failed to synergize with each other.
Tatis Jr. reflected, "A lot of people were excited and excited about our team.
I think that fact put pressure on ourselves.
I think baseball is the most difficult thing in the world."
San Diego general manager AJ Preller blamed himself, saying, "Before the season started, I thought we would be able to lift the World Series championship trophy.
But in the end, we failed to advance to the postseason."
Despite disappointing performance this season, General Manager Preller and Coach Bob Melvin were retained.
The media predicted, "With these players remaining in place, next year"s San Diego squad will be largely the same.
The core players will remain the same."