PEORIA, Ariz. — Because some things transcend cultural divides, Ha-seong Kim relaxed a bit when he discovered his palate agreed with Phil's baby back ribs. Not that the San Diego County barbecue chain truly compares to his mother's kimchi stew or anything else that Sun Young Na whipped up for Kim while staying with him at different points during his first year in Major League Baseball.
Those days felt like home.
There were a lot of days that didn't.
"The toughest part was not knowing what's going to happen the next day," Kim said. "Every second, every minute, it was a new experience for me. Not knowing what's going to happen next, in an hour, or the next day or the next month — the not knowing was the toughest part."
Kim was speaking earlier this week, with the help of interpreter Leo Bae, in front of his locker at the Peoria Sports Complex. Bae had been at Kim's side moments earlier, too, as Kim sat with Manny Machado, Eric Hosmer and Wil Myers on the couches before disappearing out the clubhouse doors, leaving the 26-year-old South Korean alone with his teammates. The chuckling and chatting, albeit a bit slower to make it easier on Kim, carried on anyway — about music, about baseball, about just about anything — in the sort of display that illustrates just how much more at home Kim is a year later in a foreign country.
Given the task before Kim as the first choice to fill in while Fernando Tatis Jr. recovers from his fractured wrist, that improved comfortability can only help as he looks to live up to the four-year, $28 million deal he signed last year as a 30-homer hitter from the KBO.
"On the field, just the level of competition is different," Padres President of Baseball Operations A.J. Peller said. "The quality of pitching is a lot different, but you also forget the off-the-field component and how big of a switch it is. The food, the culture, not having gone through even the travel and just like the 162 and bouncing all over the country, a lot bigger territory. All those things, he's experienced it now so nothing should be a surprise.
"I think he'll be better for it."
Indeed, for all the eye-opening plays Kim turned in on defense and the occasional ball he ran into (who could forget the homer against the Reds as a near-capacity Petco Park chanted his name?), his struggles with the bat, and with velocity in particular, weighed him down as he attempted to acclimate himself in a foreign country. He hit .202/.270/.352 over 298 plate appearances, was 13-for-66 (.197) against pitches 94 mph or higher and hit .185/.284/.369 while collecting just 76 plate appearances after Preller traded for All-Star second baseman Adam Frazier.
Kim understood the move. That didn't make it any easier to perform when his opportunities arrived, as scarce they were after the All-Star break.
"Because we had so much depth and so much talent," Kim said, "when I'd get a start, even from the first pitch I'd be pressing: I have to get a good result here so I can get a next at-bat. And the second at-bat I have to get a hit so I can get a third at-bat.
"I put myself in that situation. It was on me to quit putting the pressure on myself in tough situations instead of just being comfortable and going out there and doing my job."
Kim's to-do list was clear as he ventured into the offseason: shortening a pronounced leg kick, smoothing his bat path and putting the weight back on that he lost while discovering the food he could stomach in the States, all while squeezing in the community service he owed his country.
Admittedly, Kim is "a lucky guy" because his accomplishments on the diamond on the international stage allowed him to swap out the two years of military service demanded of all able-bodied South Korean men for essentially four weeks of basic training and nearly 600 hours of baseball instruction.
He'd previously completed the basic training. But his baseball endeavors had prevented him from completing his community service hours until after his first big-league season.
So instead of relaxing on a beach for several weeks or focusing entirely on preparing for his second season in San Diego, Kim toured schools Monday through Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., for three months straight.
The experience was equally rewarding and taxing.
"Of course, I enjoy working with kids," Kim said. "They love me and I love them, too. But right after I finished the full MLB season, your body needs rest. To do that and the volunteering in the same season, it was really hard."
Hard days are hardly behind Kim, shoved squarely into the limelight as the team learned of Tatis' fractured wrist.
Sure, CJ Abrams is hot to start spring training, but he's collected just 348 official plate appearances as a pro and remains a long shot to break camp with the team. Yes, Jake Cronenworth can slide over to shortstop, too, but "we signed Kim for a reason" new Padres manager Bob Melvin declared as camp opened.
Meaning: The Padres need to see what they have in Kim, and his teammates, his "family" as Kim says, have all the confidence in the world as he heads into his second season in the States.
"You don't see this kind of pitching anywhere; it's the best of the best all throughout the world," Hosmer said. "I think the more he sees the pitching, the more he can adjust to it. We all have the utmost confidence in his defense and we know he can hit as well. Being able to get more repetition out there and having a full offseason to understand what he's got to adjust to coming into this year is going to help him a lot."
But no pressure, right?
That's certainly one of the many lessons that Kim learned from an eventful first year in the majors. Perhaps the rest will fall in place now that he feels a bit more at home in the majors.
"I don't think of this as my opportunity," Kim said. "I just think that it's my job to fill in, fill in the gap that the team has to go through without Tatis. Obviously he is my good friend, my best friend, and he's a core part of our group. So all I want is him back and as strong and as early as possible.
"Right now all I'm focusing on is doing my job until he gets back healthy."
