San Diego Padres prospect watch: Ha-Seong Kim

Ha-Seong Kim playing for the San Diego Padres in a 2021 spring training game in Peoria, Arizona. - photo by Joe Alexander
Ha-Seong Kim playing for the San Diego Padres in a 2021 spring training game in Peoria, Arizona.
Ha-Seong Kim is on the verge of making his Major League Baseball debut. Though that technically makes him a rookie, it’s not like he doesn’t have much professional experience.

The San Diego Padres infielder had 3,195 at-bats in 891 games over seven seasons in the Korean Baseball Organization. He recorded a .294 career batting average with 133 home runs in the KBO.

Kim batted .306 in 2020 with a career-high 30 home runs in 138 games. He has batted better than .300 in three of the last four seasons.

The 24-year-old native of Korea was signed by the Padres as a free agent on Dec. 31, 2020.