In his introductory interview on Jan. 5, 2021, Kim opened the Zoom call by introducing himself in English: “Hello everyone. I am Ha-Seong Kim of the San Diego Padres. Nice to meet you all.” Kim continued in Korean: “It’s truly my honor to join the San Diego Padres, the Major League’s best baseball team with tremendous firepower and excellent pitching. I’m very excited to be part of a team with such great talent as Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis, Jake Cronenworth and Eric Hosmer. As a new addition to the team, I too will grow as a player as well as contribute significantly to the team.”...In 2019, played in the WBSC Premier12 (World Baseball Softball Confederation) at which Team Korea won silver and qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games...Kim and OF Junghoo Lee were Korea’s representatives on the All-World Team named after the tournament...Attended Yatap High School in Seongnam, from which he was drafted by the Nexen Heroes in 2014...Admires Chan Ho Park, who is an advisor to Baseball Operations for the Padres, and gave Kim advice about playing in the United States for the first time.
2023
In his third Major League season, notched career marks in average (.260), OBP (.351), SLG (.398), OPS (.749), games (152), runs (84), hits (140), home runs (17), RBI (60), walks (75) and stolen bases (38)…his .351 OBP also ranked 6th among NL infielders...Became the first Padre since Fernando Tatis Jr. (2021) to collect 20+XBH and 20+SB in a single season...Defensively, split time across 2B (106 G, 98 GS), 3B (32 G, 29 GS) and SS (20 G, 16 GS), turning in a .988 fielding percentage (7 E/571 TC) in 1263.1 innings...Won his first Gold Glove Award (utility), which also marked the first Major League award of his career…per Statcast, his nine outs above average ranked T-2nd on the Padres (w/ Fernando Tatis Jr.) behind just Manny Machado's 11 OAA... his seven OAA at 2B ranked fourth in the NL behind SF's Thairo Estrada (20), PHI's Bryson Stott (17) and CHC's Nico Hoerner (13)...Kim joined Tatis Jr. and just four other players to win a Gold Glove in their first season at a new position (others: CHC Ryne Sandberg 1983, CIN Pokey Reese 1999, TOR Marcus Semien 2021 and BAL Ramón Urías 2022)…it was also the first time since 1996 the Padres have had multiple Gold Glove winners in a single season (Steve Finley, Ken Caminiti)...Combined for 16 DRS (10-2B, 3-3B, 3-SS)… among NL second basemen, his 10 DRS trailed just CHC Nico Hoerner and MIL Brice Turang (12 DRS each)...At 2B, his .991 fielding percentage was the fourth-highest in National League (min. 100 G), and only NYM's Jeff McNeil committed fewer errors (three)...Additionally, Kim's 2.83 assists per nine innings played at 2B ranked second in the NL behind SF's Thairo Estrada's 3.19 A/9 at 2B...His 38 stolen bases ranked fifth in the NL and were the most by a Padre since Everth Cabrera's 44 SB in 2012 and are the 12th-most in franchise history…he is also the 1st South Korean-born player to steal 38 bags...From July 24 to Aug. 11, posted a 16-game hitting streak (.414 BA), which tied with Shin-Soo Choo for the longest hitting streak in MLB history by a South Korean-born player (Choo’s was in 2013 with CIN)…it also tied for the fifth-longest hitting streak of the 2023 season...On Aug. 3, was named as the Padres' Heart & Hustle Award nominee...the award honors active players who demonstrate a passion for the game and best embody the values, spirit, and traditions of baseball, and it is the only honor in MLB that is voted on by former players...On Aug. 21 vs. MIA, hit his first career grand slam and became the first Padre to hit a grand slam, a double, and log a stolen base in a game...Sept. 29 @ CWS, drew his 74th & 75th walks to finish the season trailing just Juan Soto's ML-leading 132 walks on the team...Kim's 75 free passes mark the most walks by a San Diego infielder since Chase Headley's 86 BB in 2012 and ranked 4th among NL infielders...Sept. 30 @ CWS, matched his career high in hits (four) for the second time in his career (other: Aug. 2, 2022, vs. COL) and tallied his sixth multi-SB game to extend his team-leading SB total to 38 swipes on the year...In the season finale @ CWS, collected his 60th RBI to surpass his career mark of 59 RBI from 2022...Played for Korea in the World Baseball Classic...hit .188 (3- for-16) with three HRs and six RBI.
2022
In his second Major League season, Kim notched career highs across all offensive categories and was named a 2022 Gold Glove award finalist....Became one of four Padre shortstops in club history to play at least 131 games at shortstop and own a .704 OPS or higher in a season, joining Garry Templeton (1985), Chris Gomez (1998) and Khalil Greene (2004, 2007)....Turned in the team's third-highest WAR (3.7), trailing just Manny Machado’s 7.4 WAR and Jake Cronenworth’s 4.1 WAR. ...His .982 (8 E/455 TC) fielding percentage was the highest fielding percentage for a Padres’ shortstop in a 162-game season since 2018, when Freddy Galvis turned in a franchise-best .986 (9 E/ 630 TC) fielding percentage… Kim’s .982 clip ranks as the fifth-highest, single-season fielding percentage in Padres’ franchise history. ...Among Padre infielders, his six outs above average trailed only Machado's eight OAA. ...Wrapped his 2022 campaign ranking fourth on the team in batting average (.251)....His career-high 150 games played ranked fifth all-time among Korean-born players and are the most since Shin.Soo Choo’s 151 games with Texas…his 130 hits, 87 singles, 29 doubles and 12 stolen bases during the 2022 season were the most in the National League by a Korean-born players since Choo’s 2013 season with CIN…also trails only Choo among Korean-born players in single-season highs in hits (ninth), singles (ninth), doubles (eighth), triples (T-2nd) and stolen bases (T-5th)....Concluded the season reaching base in 16 of his final 18 games, collecting a hit in 12 of those games with four doubles, three home runs and eight RBI at a .288 clip.
POSTSEASON: The 2022 playoffs marked his first MLB Postseason, and his eight runs scored tied with Trent Grisham for the most in a single Postseason in franchise history....Alongside Machado, Kim’s three doubles tied for second-most in team history and are the most since the 1998 Postseason when Rubén Rivera collected a franchise-high four doubles....On the team, his six walks trailed just Jurickson Profar’s eight and were also the second-most since the 1998 season when several Padres collected seven-plus walks.
2021
Made his Major League debut April 1, 2021, vs. ARI, pinch hitting in the T-7th (struck out swinging)...logged his first MLB hit, multi-hit game, and RBI in his next appearance April 3 vs. ARI, going 2-for-4 with an RBI...Posted by the KBO's Kiwoom Heroes on Dec. 7, 2020... signed a four-year contract with SD on Dec. 31, 2020, becoming the Padres' 1st Korean-born position player...Entered 2021 rated as the No. 78 prospect in all of baseball by Baseball America and No. 86 by ESPN...Baseball America also ranked Kim as the Padres' No. 5 overall prospect and their second-highest ranked infield prospect, behind just SS CJ Abrams...His 2.1 defensive WAR was the third-highest in the National League per Baseball Reference, behind just COL's Ryan McMahon (2.5) and PIT's Jacob Stallings (2.3)... Had a season-long five-game hitting streak from May 17-23, batting .316 (6-for-19) with three 2B, one 3B and four RBI...had a season-long seven-game on-base streak (reaching via hit, walk, or hit-by-pitch) from May 15-23...The Padres were 59-58 in games in which he appeared and 38-25 in games in which he started...Hit .222 vs. left-handers (18-for-81) with seven 2B and two HR and hit .194 (36-for-186) vs. right-handers with five 2B, two 3B and six HR...Posted a .719 OPS at Petco Park, while posting just a .530 OPS on the road...Slugged .406 vs. NL West opponents (5 2B and 4 HR)...Made 40 appearances as a pinch hitter, batting .114 (4-for35) with a home run and four walks...His three outs above average tied with Adam Frazier and Manny Machado for the highest among Padres' infielders, and was T-2nd on the team behind Trent Grisham's six OAA...In the field, made appearances at second base (21 games and 20 starts), third base (23 games and 18 starts) and shortstop (35 games and 25 starts)...made five errors.
2020
Played 138 games with the Kiwoom Heroes of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO), appearing in 96 games at shortstop and 55 games at third base... Hit .306 (163-for-533) with a career-high 30 HR, .397 OBP, .921 OPS, 24 2B, 109 RBI, 23 SB, 111 runs scored and 75 walks to just 68 strikeouts... Led his club in HR, RBI and runs scored, and among all KBO players, Kim ranked 3rd in runs scored, 5th in stolen bases, 6th in walks, 8th in total bases (279), 9th in RBI, 10th in HR, 11th in hits and OPS, 12th in AVG and 13th in SLG (.523)...His walk-to-strikeout rate in 2020 in the KBO, more than double his first full season in 2015, when he walked 56 times and struck out 115 times... At 25, he was the youngest player among the top 10 homerun hitters in the KBO in 2020...Mel Rojas Jr. led with 47 HR, and former MLB players Preston Tucker (32), Jamie Romak (32) and Aaron Altherr (31) finished ahead of Kim, who ranked 9th in the league... Prior to his posting, was ranked by FanGraphs as their No. 8 highest rated free agent in 2021... Was officially posted by the KBO's Kiwoom Heroes on December 7, 2020...Signed his 4-year contract with the Padres on December 31, 2020... Entering 2021, ranked by Baseball America as the Padres' No. 5 overall prospect and their 2nd-highest ranked infield prospect (behind C.J. Abrams).
