Ha-Seong Kim makes return, starting at shortstop Tuesday
The Braves had a new starting shortstop Tuesday, their fourth of the season already.
Ha-Seong Kim was penciled into the Braves’ lineup for the middle of the infield and was hitting eighth in the opening game of a three-game series against the Cubs at Truist Park. It’s Kim’s first game with the Braves since Sept. 28.
“Excited to be back,” Kim said via interpreter David Lee. “First of all, I’ve been seeing the games, the boys are hot, the team is doing well, so I want to make sure that I don’t want to get in the way of the team’s momentum right now. So I’ll try my best to keep it going.”
Kim, from Korea, played in 24 games for the Braves at the end of the 2025 season, then signed a one-year, $20 million contract for the 2026 season. An offseason, off-field finger injury delayed the start of that ’26 campaign for Kim.
In his absence, the Braves have started Mauricio Dubón, Jorge Mateo and rookie Jim Jarvis at the shortstop position. Kyle Farmer has also seen action there.
“I’m excited to have Kim back. Just think he does everything well. Every aspect of the game he does well,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “It’s a really high baseball IQ. He’s a winning player. I feel like we’re playing really well, I feel like we’re a good team, I feel like we get better today with Kim.
“Kim’s going to play a lot, we’re gonna run him out to shortstop virtually every day. But I also had a conversation with Kim, and I’ll be in tune with his workload because it’s always different when guys haven’t had a spring training. Regardless of how long your rehab assignment is, it’s not quite the same as a spring training to prepare you for a season. So I’ll pick my spots with Kim and we’re going to communicate how he’s feeling. I don’t want to run him into the ground, especially early on here when he’s been out for this long. But I’m excited to have him back and excited to watch him play.”
Kim, 30, played five games with Triple-A Gwinnett and went 5-for-19 with a double and an RBI. With Double-A Columbus before that he was 3-for-9 with four walks in four games.
Having made his MLB debut in 2021 with the Padres, with whom he spent four seasons, Kim is a .242 career hitter with a .324 career on-base percentage. In four of his five MLB seasons he has had a fielding run value of at least three. He had nine outs above average during the 2023 season with the Padres.
Kim had shoulder surgery in late in 2024 and didn’t return to the field until July of 2025, then with the Rays. He said that experience helped him these past few months.
“I think the biggest hurdle, last hurdle, was getting a full nine innings under the belt. And once I had that, I didn’t feel any restraints under the body. Body felt good. So I think that was the biggest hurdle,” he said. “I think mentally I was a little better prepared for it because I had shoulder labrum surgery in ‘24 and then I was rehabbing basically the whole first half of last year. And I think that mentally prepared me for this year’s injury. And I think the injury that I got this year was relatively easier to rehab than the shoulder injury. So I think I was well prepared for it.”
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