PHOENIX –– Hyeseong Kim is building from the ground up this spring.
Both with his swing and his Dodgers roster chances.
Last year, the 27-year-old South Korean import did not have the rookie season he wanted. His struggles, however, were hardly unexpected.
Hyeseong Kim is building from the ground up this spring. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
While the contact-first hitter enjoyed great success in his KBO career, he was ill-equipped to handle MLB pitching when he arrived on a three-year, $12.5 million contract last winter.
His swing was too "twisted," in the words of Dodgers hitting coach Aaron Bates. His inability to adjust to breaking pitches made him an easy target for big-league arms to attack.
That's why, over the last year, Dodgers hitting coaches have meticulously worked to alter his mechanics.
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First, they focused on Kim's legs, trying to get the strong-for-his-size, 5-foot-10 infielder to use the ground to generate more power and stability. Then, they honed in on the alignment of his torso and back, making subtle adjustments aimed at keeping Kim squared up to the ball longer.
"He twisted (in his swing) before, where his body would almost get twisted behind his back," Bates said this week. "Now, we're basically trying to keep him more square, longer, with the way he loads and swings. Using the ground first and then going ground up."
So far this spring, the results have been encouraging.
That's why, over the last year, Dodgers hitting coaches have meticulously worked to alter his mechanics. Getty Images
In four Cactus League games, Kim is batting 6 for 13, punctuating his improvements with a towering home run in Thursday's 7-6 win over the White Sox .
"What I've seen so far from Hyeseong," manager Dave Roberts said, "has been really good stuff."
So good, it has put him in position for a more prominent role to open the 2026 season.
Last spring, Kim failed to crack the Opening Day roster, spending the first month of the season in Triple-A. Then, after a briefly auspicious debut that saw him hit .383 over his first 36 games in the majors, his play gradually regressed as his role on the big-league club diminished.
From July on, he hit just .175 while missing time with a shoulder injury. In the playoffs, his only on-field action came as a pinch runner.
"I was not satisfied last year," Kim said through his interpreter recently, after finishing 2025 with a .280 batting average overall, but only a .699 OPS and a 30.6% strikeout rate that was well above league average.
IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
"I found out some of the things that I needed to work on," Kim added. "I just want to work hard and make sure that I make the roster right off the bat after spring training."
A month out from Opening Day this year, Kim is on track to do just that.
He entered camp in a strong spot, having spent the final few weeks of the winter in Los Angeles working with Dodgers coaches on swing changes he said he felt "about 70% comfortable" with by the end of last season.
And with Tommy Edman ruled out for the start of the season , Kim is now making a strong case for a utility role with his spring play –– pushing for playing time at second base (where he could be a left-handed-hitting platoon partner for Miguel Rojas ) and in the outfield (where he could be a backup option to Andy Pages in center field).
Kim still isn't a lock to break camp with the big-league club. He will soon leave Arizona to join Team South Korea for the World Baseball Classic, something Roberts acknowledged will complicate the team's ability to evaluate him for the next several weeks.
Still, he has already shown the progress the Dodgers were hoping to see after last year.
Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
"I think he's closed some of those holes (where pitchers used to exploit him)," Roberts said. "The hitting guys worked really hard on cleaning some things up for him mechanically."
Even before the start of Cactus League play, Kim impressed in live batting practice sessions against the Dodgers' talented pitching staff (including an opposite-field home run off Yoshinobu Yamamoto last week).
Then, in what was his final game before leaving for the WBC, he produced his most promising moment yet with his big fly on Thursday.
After falling behind in the count 0 and 2, Kim laid off a couple pitches, stayed square and on-time against an inside sweeper, and pulled a 384-foot home run over the right field bullpen at Camelback Ranch.
"Those are good signs," Bates said, "when he's basically letting the ball travel and can make decisions later (on each swing)."
The Dodgers' final decision on Kim's role can also wait for now. The team will monitor his performance in the WBC but make no sweeping assessments on his performance in the tournament.
Instead, they will wait for him to return and then keep working on the ground-up swing changes that finally seem to be clicking.
"He's had a great camp so far," Roberts said. "The home run was icing on the cake."
