As Kim Ha-seong (28, San Diego Padres)’s absence is prolonged, the dream of becoming the first Asian major league player to record a record is becoming more and more distant.
San Diego announced the starting lineup excluding Ha-seong Kim ahead of the home game against the Colorado Rockies held at Petco Park in San Diego, California, USA on the 21st (Korean time).
The starter is Seth Lugo, and the batting order is: Brett Sullivan (catcher), Jose Ajocar (center fielder), and Aigui Rosario (third baseman).
Ha-seong Kim has been excluded from the starting lineup for four consecutive games since the Oakland Athletics away trip on the 17th. It started with batting training ahead of the away game against Oakland on the 18th. On that day, Ha-seong Kim was included in the starting lineup as the first hitter and second baseman, but was excluded again due to sudden abdominal pain. According to American media outlet Sports Illustrated (SI), San Diego coach Bob Melvin said, “Kim Ha-seong complained of abdominal pain. He is quite uncomfortable.”
But the stomach pain is taking longer than I thought. As the pain progressed to the point where he was unable to participate in the lineup on the second day, another media outlet, the San Diego Union-Tribune, raised the possibility that Kim Ha-sung’s abdominal pain was caused by another internal problem rather than muscle. Because of this, the San Diego team is also hastily unable to let Kim Ha-seong play. Fortunately, he was included in the list of candidates on this day, but it is unclear whether he will appear as a defender or substitute runner.
Kim Ha-seong’s prolonged injury is making both players and fans sad. In the first half of this season, Kim Ha-seong was the only thing that made fans watching San Diego, whose performance was below expectations, smile. ‘Awesome Kim’ was chanted at San Diego’s home stadium, Petco Park, and on days when his bobbleheads were distributed, fans lined up outside the stadium.
As if representing such fan opinion, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported the news of Kim Ha-seong’s injury and interviewed him on the 20th, saying, “San Diego has seen injuries to key members of the team,” and “one of them has been sidelined for the past few games due to abdominal pain.” As Kim Ha-seong, he updated his status, but that wasn’t the news fans wanted to hear.”먹튀검증
He continued, “Ha-seong Kim was one of the most stable players in San Diego throughout the season. Even while the team was going through ups and downs, he was consistent in his performance throughout. The emergence of Ha-seong Kim this season was a good sign for the San Diego franchise.” “It remains to be seen when Ha-Seong Kim will return, but San Diego will handle it carefully to prevent another incident (such as another injury). Especially considering the team rankings, it is reasonable to approach Ha-Seong Kim cautiously,” he added.
Although the San Diego team and fans love him, they cannot be more disappointed than the player himself. This season, Ha-seong Kim was on his way to a career-high season with a batting average of 0.265 in 143 games, 17 home runs, 58 RBIs, 81 runs, 36 stolen bases, an on-base percentage of 0.356, a slugging percentage of 0.407, and an OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) of 0.763.
In particular, as his slugging power and base running tools fully developed, he broke records for a Korean major leaguer and attempted to become the first Asian major leaguer to do so. First, he succeeded in stealing two bases in a home game against the LA Dodgers on the 5th of last month, breaking the record of most stolen bases by a Korean big leaguer in a season (22 steals) set by Choo Shin-soo (then of the Cleveland Indians) in 2010 in 13 years.
In addition, he hit 17 home runs, setting a record of 20 home runs and 40 stolen bases, which even Ichiro Suzuki could not achieve. If he added three home runs and four stolen bases, he would become the first Asian major leaguer to record such feats. However, after this game against Colorado, there are only 9 games remaining in San Diego, so that possibility is becoming increasingly slim.
