adminThe San Diego Padres were the favorites to win the World Series heading into the season. However, the team crashed to a less than 5% winning percentage in the first half. Can they rebound in the second half? Kim Ha-seong has been a bright spot in the offense.
San Diego signed free agent shortstop Xander Bogaerts to an 11-year, $280 million deal before the season began. They signed starting pitcher Darvish Yu to a six-year, $180 million deal and Manny Machado to an 11-year, $350 million extension. Just before Opening Day, they signed Jake Cronenweth to a seven-year, $80 million extension. San Diego’s team payroll was third in the majors.
Since opening day, however, the Padres have been up and down, and since mid-May have been below .500. They are in the middle of the pack in the league, let alone first place in the National League West.
The Padres are 43-47 (.478 winning percentage) in the first half, good for fourth place in the NL West. They are six games behind third-place San Francisco (49-41) for the final wild-card spot.
In the first half, Bogaerts is batting just 2-for-5 with 10 doubles, 10 home runs, 35 RBIs and a .731 OPS. Machado is also underperforming, hitting just 2-for-6 with 15 homers, 49 RBIs and a .765 OPS. Heading into free agency, Juan Soto is the best of the bunch, batting .265 with 15 homers, 47 RBIs, a .419 OPS, and an .898 slugging percentage.온라인카지노
Kim batted 25-for-58 with 10 home runs, 31 RBI, 16 doubles, and a .760 OPS. His 4.1 bWAR ranks fifth in the majors and third in the National League. His 2.1 defensive WAR leads the National League. He’s even better on defense. Moving from shortstop to second base with the addition of Bogaerts, Kim has an OAA of 11, which is second in the majors behind only Wander Franco (Tampa Bay).
“His defensive wizardry and improved contact numbers have been a bright spot for the Padres so far this season,” said the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Since reaching the majors, Kim has improved his ability to react to his fastball, which had been a weakness. His fastball wOBA was .301 in his rookie year in 2021, increased to .332 last year, and is even better this year at .352. His batted ball rate on fastballs over 95 mph (153 kilometers) was 1.1 percent in 2021, 1.5 percent last year, and over 3 percent this year.
Kim signed a four-year, $28 million contract with San Diego, and is making $8 million this year. He’s making two to three times his salary.