The Cleveland Guardians are currently without a starting second baseman.
That doesn’t mean they don’t have quality internal options to take over the keystone, but right now, after trading away Andrés Giménez, they don’t know what they will do there.
The options at the table are calling up Juan Brito or using one of Angel Martinez or Daniel Schneemann at second.
They could also bring in a free agent or trade acquisition.
With this in mind, Caleb Moody of Just Baseball has identified the Guardians as a potential landing spot for Korean middle infielder Hyeseong Kim.
He talks about Kim as a potential ‘stopgap’ option as the organization waits for the Travis Bazzana era to start.
That could be late 2025, early 2026 or even deeper into the 2026 campaign.
Having a solid player like Kim as a regular in until that moment comes would benefit the Guardians.
Will Hyeseong Kim plug the hole at middle infielder for the Guardians? pic.twitter.com/BdPBZyxCSn
— Guardians Nation (@GuardiansNation) January 2, 2025
Kim is also versatile enough that he can play a solid shortstop, and offer himself as an option there to compete long-term with Brayan Rocchio.
“Kim would offer a solid upside option to compete with Rocchio for reps at short, ensuring the shortstop position isn’t entirely a black hole offensively for the Guardians in 2025 like it was last year,” Moody wrote.
Playing second base for the Kiwoom Heroes in 2024, Kim posted a .326/.383/.458 slash line with a 10.9% K-rate, an 8.3% walk rate and a 118 wRC+ in 567 trips to the plate.
He doesn’t have much in the way of power but can put the bat on the ball with consistency and rarely strikes out.
Kim is just 25 so he has some time to catch up to MLB pitching.
He could need a bit of an adjustment period but he can be Ha-Seong Kim lite for the Guardians and could make sense of the price is right.
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