Hyun Soo Kim is rapidly becoming a fan favorite in Baltimore, and for good reason. What he has been able to do against MLB pitchers he has never faced before while not even speaking the language in his first year is incredible. As of September 2nd (which is over 80% of the way through the season) he has an on base percentage that is 6th best in the American League among batters who have more than 200 at bats. 6th best in all of baseball behind only Mike Trout, Jose Altuve, Josh Donaldson, David Ortiz & Cameron Maybin. That isn’t bad company. He’s batting .310 with 14 doubles, 4 home runs, and 28 walks in just 258 at bats and has a fielding percentage of 1.000 in over 550 hundred innings playing the outfield. That is right – he hasn’t committed an error all year.
It is curious why he isn’t getting more attention on a national level. Not enough home runs?
Trevor Story seemed to be the talk of the national league in terms of rookie of the year candidates. Through 97 games he had 27 home runs before an injury ended his rookie year early.
Rookie of the year candidates should be judged on their contribution to their team – not just one statistic.
Another reason Kim isn’t getting more fanfare is perhaps due to his success in Korea before coming to America. Some argue this prior experience should deem one ineligible for rookie-based awards.
Kim is indeed a rookie, however. MLB states A player shall be considered a rookie unless, during a previous season or seasons, he has (a) exceeded 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the Major Leagues; or (b) accumulated more than 45 days on the active roster of a Major League club or clubs during the period of 25-player limit which ends this year on September 1st.
He has the at bats, and he of course didn’t bat once last year.
So are his stats good enough, and who is his competition?
Last year’s American League rookie of the year was Houston’s Carlos Correa. Over 387 at bats (which Kim probably won’t match but will get close) Correa batted .279 with an on base percentage of .345 and 22 home runs.
How about other rookies this year in the American League? Among those players, Kim has the highest batting average, highest on base percentage, the third most walks, and the second highest OPS at .805.
All of these don’t count the recently popular Gary Sanchez because he only has just over 100 at bats.
The award likely will go to Michael Fulmer of Detroit. He is 10-55 in 21 starts this year with a 2.69 ERA. Tyler Naquin of Cleveland has similar stats to Kim but with 14 home runs which gets all the fanfare. Nomar Mazara of Texas as of September 2nd is hitting .275 with 15 home runs. He gets some attention because of his 122 games played meaning he is an everyday player for the Rangers and has stayed consistently good.
Lastly I will throw in Dylan Bundy after his 6 innings of shutout ball on the 2nd against the Yankees. He has about 50 fewer innings than Fulmer, and is 8-5 with a 3.47 ERA. Coincidentally, the two are both 23-year-old Oklahomans.
This last month will be exciting to watch. Hopefully Kim can keep it up and help in the playoff push. The last Baltimore Oriole to win the Rookie of the Year award was Gregg Olson who was the first reliever to do so in 1989. Olson also holds the unofficial record of having the best entrance music in the history of the MLB, the 60s hit Wild Thing.
But I digress. Good luck Kim and welcome to Baltimore.
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Kim will not win ROY, not because he lacks the ability, but because of his situation. He has a manager who feels that he is being shown up. Showalter wanted to send Kim down to AAA after Spring Training but a clause in his contract allowed Kim to refuse. He was therefore left to languish on the bench as the 25h man (as close to 26 as Showalter could put him). His demotion was deserved after a miserable spring even though all the Korean imports had godawful first springs (their season starts later than MLB and they obviously are accustomed to starting as early). So on goes the season, and Kim hits when he finally gets an AB. He then continued to hit and hasn’t stopped all season. Kim has proven he was right that he deserved to be playing regularly, yet Showalter continues to not play him regularly for what seems to amount to personal reasons. Granted he has 0 hits versus lefties (WOW 0) but only has 17 ABs spread super sporadically across months and always versus a premium lefty reliever who has been brought in for the express purpose of facing him, which hardly is enough to pass ultimate judgement on. Only due to the fact he had no choice but to play Kim who was outplaying any other option was he even allowed to get the ~300 PAs he has received. A different manager/team would have likely provided a far different outcome.
It is also worth noting that one point Showalter made that was accurate was that Kim’s defense was sub-par and it certainly is. His lack of instincts is his biggest issue as he makes all the plays that he actually gets to as pointed out in this article. But if there is one thing proven over time about awards, it’s that piss-poor defense doesn’t prevent a player from taking home awards or even Gold Gloves, it’s how you hit that matters so Kim’s D wouldn’t prevent him from ROY.