The Braves will probably be with out a key infielder for a good portion of the 2026 season.
Ha-seong Kim, who was anticipated to be Atlanta’s beginning shortstop, will miss 4 to 5 months after present process surgical procedure to restore a torn tendon in his proper center finger, the group introduced Sunday.
Kim sustained the harm in his native Korea after slipping and falling on ice, per MLB.com’s Mark Bowman.
The 30-year-old joined the Braves final September as a waiver pickup from the Rays following one other injury-plagued season.
After recovering from shoulder surgical procedure to open 2025, Kim appeared in simply 24 video games with Tampa Bay earlier than touchdown on the injured checklist once more with a again concern.
Atlanta claimed him in early September with plans for him to man shortstop down the stretch.
“I feel if I had stayed wholesome, I’d’ve performed extra video games day-after-day,” Kim mentioned via an interpreter after becoming a member of Atlanta, per MLB.com. “Clearly, the season didn’t actually pan out to how I had deliberate it.
“I’m clearly excited to play alongside a proficient group of gamers, and I’m clearly very excited to complete the season on a excessive be aware, in a wholesome method.”
After hitting .253/.316/.368 with three dwelling runs and 12 RBIs in September, Kim opted out of the second 12 months of the two-year, $29 million deal he signed the earlier offseason.
Kim re-signed with the Braves on a one-year, $20 million contract to function the group’s full-time shortstop in 2026.
“I can inform you it helped on our finish, simply from a consolation standpoint,” Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos mentioned of getting Kim for the final month of 2025. “I really feel like regardless that he wasn’t right here that lengthy, a month was fairly vital. He slot in shortly.”
A former Gold Glove winner as a utility participant, Kim has flashed a dynamic mix of velocity, energy and protection throughout 5 MLB seasons, although accidents have adopted him.
He underwent shoulder surgical procedure in October 2024 for a “small tear” within the labrum in his proper shoulder, an harm he suffered in late August of that season.
Each the Rays and Braves have hoped to recapture Kim’s 2023 kind, when he slashed .260/.351/.398 with 17 homers, 60 RBIs and 38 stolen bases for the Padres.
A 3-time Gold Glove winner within the Korea Baseball Group, Kim joined the majors after signing a four-year, $28 million cope with the Padres for the 2021 marketing campaign.
Fellow Gold Glove winner Mauricio Dubón, acquired by Atlanta this offseason, figures to see vital time at shortstop to open 2026.
