The Dodgers’ biggest player waited for their smallest one in the visiting dugout at LoanDepot Park on Monday night.
There, in a moment of joy captured by television broadcast cameras, the two shared a celebratory mid-game embrace.
Like many Asian-born players of his generation, Hyeseong Kim has long looked up to Shohei Ohtani. At first it was from afar, Kim following the Japanese superstar closely while beginning his own career in the Korean Baseball Organization. Then, this winter, the pair became coincidental training partners, occasionally working out at the same Southern California facility together as Kim (who, like Ohtani, is represented by Creative Artists Agency) prepared for his own move to the major leagues.
Kim ultimately signed with the Dodgers, even though the speedy 5-foot-10 infielder likely could have secured more money and regular playing time elsewhere. One of the main appeals was the opportunity to play alongside Ohtani and the club’s collection of other big-name talent.
In the Dodgers’ 7-4 win over the Miami Marlins on Monday, Kim finally got that chance, sharing a starting lineup with Ohtani for the first time since being called up to the big leagues last week.
And during the top of the fifth inning, the two co-starred in a sequence that put the game out of reach — Kim collecting his first MLB hit on a leadoff single, before Ohtani launched a home run that made the score 5-0.
After Ohtani rounded the bases, Kim was the first to greet him, sharing a high-five near the on-deck circle. Back in the dugout, it was Ohtani’s turn to return the favor, putting his hands on his new teammate’s helmet while cracking a wide smile and jumping up and down.
“Even [though] he hit his home run, he celebrated for me, he gave me congratulations,” Kim said through interpreter Joe Lee, after going two for four with a stolen base. “It was a great honor.”
“Just an amazing performance by Kim,” Ohtani said through his interpreter, Will Ireton. “Really good, just overall.”
The Dodgers (24-11) had plenty of other contributors Monday, en route to winning their seventh game in the last eight.
They got two hits each from Freddie Freeman (including a third-inning home run, the 350th of his career), Mookie Betts (his fifth multi-hit game out of the last six), Andy Pages and Teoscar Hernández (who left the game early with left hamstring tightness).
They got four solid innings of bulk relief from Ben Casparius, the rookie right-hander who has been stretched out to compensate for the Dodgers’ recent rotation injuries.
Even badly slumping outfielder Michael Conforto got in on the action, breaking a 30 at-bat hitless streak with a badly needed single in the sixth.
But all of it paled in comparison to Kim’s breakout performance. He got his first two career hits, his first career RBI and, most memorably, a brief but gleeful moment of recognition from the best player in the game.
“I would say I’m still not comfortable with him, because he’s a big star,” Kim said of Ohtani with a laugh. “But he always asks questions, always talks to me. So that makes for a good adjustment and adapting.”
Kim has had to do much adapting since signing his three-year, $12.5-million contract with the Dodgers in January. While the 26-year-old already possessed game-changing speed, and what other teammates described as potential Gold Glove-caliber defensive abilities, the transition to the high-velocity pitching he would face in the majors required a total overhaul of his swing.
The early results weren’t pretty. Kim looked overmatched at the plate while going six for 29 in Cactus League play. He didn’t make the cut for the Dodgers’ opening trip to Japan, and was sent to triple-A Oklahoma City for the start of the regular season.
But over the last month, Kim made quick progress with his mechanics. He added more pop by better incorporating his powerful lower half. He maintained his pre-existing contact ability (Kim was a .308 hitter during eight seasons in the KBO) while also hitting the ball with more consistent authority.
“He just used to pop up out of the ground [on each swing], so he couldn’t use the strength that he had,” co-hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc said. “That was a big thing, but also just getting the overall swing more functional.”
Kim’s strides were significant enough that, when Tommy Edman went on the injured list with an ankle injury last week, the Dodgers felt comfortable summoning him for his first call-up.
Originally, the plan was to keep him around for a week, let him “cut his teeth,” as Roberts put it, in an MLB environment, then send him back to triple A to continue his development.
But given the way Monday went, circumstances might be changing.
“For him to come in here, throw out a knock, get a couple hits, play good defense, it was just really exciting,” manager Dave Roberts said. “He just adds that spark to our ballclub.”
Drawn into the starting lineup to face Marlins starter Sandy Alcantara, a former Cy Young Award winner working his way back from a Tommy John surgery, Kim flashed all the tools that made him a coveted international free agent this winter.
He went the other way on both of his hits, following up his line drive in the fifth inning with a bloop RBI single in the sixth.
He stole his second base in as many nights, scampering to second two pitches before Ohtani went deep.
He also made what should have been a web gem, charging to field a slow-rolling grounder in the eighth inning before flipping a highlight-reel toss with his glove that Freeman dropped for an error at first base.
“He could be a nice little weapon,” Freeman said postgame, an impressed look on his face.
Hernández’s injury, which he suffered while making a running catch in the gap in the third inning, could pave the way for Kim to get a more extended stay in the big leagues. Hernández is scheduled for an MRI scan on Tuesday, but the Dodgers were already planning to fly another player to Miami in case he requires an IL stint.
In the meantime, Kim is expected to get a second consecutive start Tuesday. It could come in center field, a position he played regularly during his time in Oklahoma City to expand his versatility.
“Honestly, I just think everyone loves Hyeseong,” Roberts said. “Everyone’s pulling for him.”
