As much as we might want a major move for a position player, the Detroit Tigers and their assigned payroll may not agree. If that’s how it goes, the Tigers would do well to pick up veteran infielder Ha-Seong
Kim. He provides solid defense anywhere from second to third base and is at least as good as Javier Báez at shortstop. His recent offensive numbers aren’t impressive, but that may just be injuries talking. For his career, Kim hits left-handed pitching well and brings a strong, versatile defensive presence to a pretty mediocre infield in that regard.
No, it’s not a big impact move, but as we saw with Jahmai Jones in 2025, sometimes adding the right role player can steal you that extra game or two that gets you into the postseason.
The 30-year-old, Korean born Kim signed out of the KBO when he was 25 and spent the next four years with the San Diego Padres. He struggled in his MLB debut season in 2021, but posted strong seasons in 2022 and 2023, peaking during the latter with 17 homers and 38 steals before a shoulder injury tanked the final 40 games of a solid 2024 campaign. He tore his labrum on a diving play and had season ending surgery.
His return in 2025 didn’t go all that well. He signed a one-year deal with a player option with the Tampa Bay Rays. A major shoulder injury like that takes time to rehab, and Kim didn’t make his season debut until early July. He struggled, and the Rays DFA’d him in August. The Braves picked him up for the rest of the season, but he never got it going, hitting .253/.316/.368 in 24 games with them.
The question is what player the Tigers would actually be getting now.
The upside here, is that whoever signs Kim might land a player who hit .256/.338/.391 with 28 homers and 52 doubles, good for a 108 wRC+ and 50 steals in the two seasons prior to his injury plagued 2024. That player was a plus shortstop and a plus third baseman to boot.
If he’s the weak hitting, solid infielder we saw with the Braves, who only has a bit of pop against left-handed pitchers, then this isn’t going to be much more than a minor upgrade over Andy Ibáñez.
The argument for the upside scenario is that Kim just needs a healthy offseason to actually build himself back up. He spent the whole 2024-2025 offseason just trying to rehab his shoulder, a process that wasn’t complete until July. His defensive numbers slipped, and his arm not being back to full strength was a big part of the reason why. He also dealt with some back trouble in the process, and his footspeed was down a little as well. So this is going to be a case of taking a swag on on his medicals and guessing how much of that athleticism he can get back.
So far at the Winter Meetings, the Tigers brass is talking an awful lot about acquiring more pitching. Evan Petzold of the Free Press noted on the recent Days of Roar podcast that the Tigers are still in touch on Alex Bregman, but showing no signs yet of really active engagement. If they decided to go hard in the free agent market for pitching rather than a bat, Kim would be a pretty nice fit for the position player group. He would give them depth at the shortstop position as needed and otherwise play in some sort of a platoon with Colt Keith at third base. And, if everything went perfectly, he’d recapture his full power from two seasons ago and get back to being a plus everyday shortstop.
Kim is coming off a down year, but teams all understand that the circumstances were pretty far from optimal for him in 2025. A bounce back season is likely. The question is the degree a prospective team can expect him to get back closer to his pre-injury numbers. I don’t think it’s far-fetched to think that Kim could get back to being an average player and maybe a little more if the shoulder trouble is behind him. Kim declined his own $16 million player option for 2026. Probably he’s not going to do that much better in free agency. A two-year, $24 million contract, or perhaps another one-year deal with a player option, is probably in line for him this offseason. If the Tigers aren’t going after a big bat and go after some good pitching instead, Ha-Seong Kim would really tie the roster together.
