Hyeseong Kim is not currently with the Los Angeles Dodgers as he competes with Team Korea in the 2026 World Baseball Classic.
Kim had started each of Korea’s first three matchups at second base, but he was out of the lineup when they faced Team Australia on Monday. Kim was held out of the game due to a left-hand injury he sustained while stealing a base while facing Taiwan on Sunday.
The severity of Kim’s injury is currently unknown at the time of publishing, and it’s unclear how long he will be out.
Kim is part of the competition for the Dodgers’ starting second base job, and he had a hot start to his Spring Training before leaving for the WBC. The left-handed hitter was batting .462 with a 1.154 on-base plus slugging with one home run, five RBI and two stolen bases in 13 at-bats.
In the WBC, Kim is hitting just .100 with a .650 OPS and one home run.
With their win over Australia, Korea advanced to the next round of tournament play and has another game scheduled for Friday. Whether Kim is in the lineup or not will be a notable insight into the severity of his injury.
If Kim is set to miss extended time, the Dodgers will likely rely on Alex Freeland to fill in for him as their left-handed hitter at second base. Miguel Rojas and Santiago Espinala are also expected to see extended time at the position until Tommy Edman returns.
Hyeseong Kim had valuable rookie season
After coming to MLB from Korea, Kim had a successful showing in 2025, answering a lot of the questions about his game. Kim finished the season hitting .280/.314/.385, played good defense at second base and provided tremendous value on the bases with his speed.
He recorded four outs above average (OAA) at second base and a 82% success rate was 3% over his estimated success rate.
Kim reflected on his first season in the Majors in a post on Instagram, calling it a valuable experience and expressing his excitement to build on his rookie season.
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