San Diego Padres infielder Ha-Sung Kim (27) extended his hitting streak to 14 games.
Kim started at first base and went 1-for-4 with a walk against the Seattle Mariners on 9 September (ET) at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, Washington, United States, during the 2023 Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series.
The San Diego bats were stifled by Seattle starter Logan Gilbert on the day. He pitched seven innings of one-hit ball and struck out a whopping 12 batters. Kim Ha-seong struck out in three straight at-bats against Gilbert.
His hitting streak was in danger of being snapped. But Kim, trailing 0-2 in the top of the ninth, drew a leadoff walk from reliever Andres Muñoz. Two fastballs and two strikes put him in a two-strike count, but he made light contact with a three-pitch outside slider with technical bat control for a single to centre field.
Kim drew a leadoff walk to keep hopes of a comeback alive, but Tatis Jr, Soto, Machado, and the rest of the lineup retired the next three batters to send San Diego down 2-0.
Kim continued his hitting streak, but fell just short of the all-time record for multiple hits in consecutive games by an Asian hitter. Until today, Kim had reached base in 15 consecutive games, tied with Ichiro Suzuki. He is tied for first among Asian batters.
For the season, he batted .288 with 15 home runs, 41 RBIs, 62 runs scored, 24 doubles, a .383 on-base percentage and a .452 slugging percentage. The home runs and stolen bases are already career highs. With 105 hits on the season, he needs just 26 more to reach career highs.
Kim’s value can be seen in the graph to the right.
Every month he breaks his own records. His batting average in April was 0.177, in May 0.276, in June 0.291, in July 0.337, and now in August 0.393.
The praise for his stellar defence seems to be translating into confidence at the plate. It’s not a flash in the pan.
It’s a gritty battle at the plate. Kim is a tiring hitter, forcing pitchers to throw 4.36 pitches per at-bat. Fourth overall in this category. His swinging strike rate is also very low.
His WAR, a measure of player value, is 5.6, tied for second with Atlanta slugger Ronald Acuna Jr. In terms of overall WAR, two-hitter Ohtani tops the list with a phenomenal 8.6, but his 5.5 is higher than Ohtani’s if you limit it to position player WAR.온라인카지노
Kim’s 2023 season is on a steep upward trajectory. We may be in for a surprise post-season report card.