He’s easy to overlook, but San Diego Padres infielder Ha-Seong Kim should be on a lot for more fantasy baseball rosters.
The San Diego Padres are loaded with star power, in real and fantasy baseball terms. Manny Machado, Juan Soto, Fernando Tatis when he’s eligible to return, etc. That makes it easy to forget about someone like Ha-Seong Kim.
Entering Friday’s action, Kim is hitting .262/.326/.500 with two home runs, four RBI, four doubles, four runs scored and a stolen base. He puts the ball in play a lot, with an 88 percentile whiff rate so far this season (according to Baseball Savant), and he combines it with good discipline (94 percentile chase rate so far this season).
Kim has not been a speed demon in terms of raw steals since coming over from the Korean League, but he does land pretty well in Sprint Speed (at least 79th percentile in all three of his big league seasons).
Last season, over 150 games, Kim hit .251/.325/.383 with 11 home runs, 59 RBI, 12 stolen bases and 58 runs scored. Obviously not outstanding in any one category, but he was helpful in multiple categories and didn’t crush his fantasy managers in any.
Ha-Seong Kim is a sneaky great fantasy baseball waiver wire add
Kim has hit no higher than sixth in the Padres’ lineup in any game so far this season, entering Thursday, with nine of 11 starts at second base and one each at shortstop and third base.
Kim will remain in the bottom part of San Diego’s lineup, but when Tatis is back on April 20 a good lineup will get a little bit deeper. There’s a trickle down impact to everyone, and Kim is an overlooked beneficiary.
Kim was eligible quickly at second base, shortstop and third base in Yahoo! leagues, and on Thursday night he got the one more game he needed to reach the minimum 10 games he needed at second base to be eligible at all three spots in ESPN leagues.
With some recent rise in ownership, as of Friday morning Kim is available in 82.9 percent of ESPN leagues and 67 percent of Yahoo! leagues.
Kim is not going to carry anyone to a fantasy title. But across the board contribution, multi-position eligibility and being an attainable piece of a top-end lineup adds up to an asset in mixed leagues.
Fantasy managers looking for roster depth should already be looking at adding Kim, and those who have lost Oneil Cruz or Corey Seager should be paying particular attention.