Fangraphs: Projecting Hyun-soo Kim

[weams]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/projecting-byung-ho-park-hyun-soo-kim-and-kenta-maeda/

LF Hyun-soo Kim

PA AVG OBP SLG ISO wOBA wRC+ BB% K% HR SB BsR Def WAR

595 .273 .338 .420 .147 .327 104 8.2% 13.0% 18 7 -0.1 -4.5 1.7

(KBO Stats)

Again, we'll pull briefly from Sullivan's initial writeup of Kim, in which he notes that the lazy comp for Kim is Nori Aoki, but that digging a bit deeper, Kim reminds him of a Nick Markakis-type, perhaps with a bit more power. Kim most recently posted a career-high walk rate in Korea with career-best power, and the projections seem him controlling the strike zone quite well, with just about average power, or slightly below that.

ESPN's Eric Longenhagen (formerly of FanGraphs) notes Kim has some unique traits as a batter, with this to say:

"He can spray line drives to all fields despite the hips and feet of a pull-only hitter. That skill is the product of Kim's natural swing path and his willingness to let pitches travel deep into the hitting zone before making contact. Because of Kim's natural inclination to stride down the first-base line and open his hips early, scouts are concerned he may be vulnerable on the outer half of the strike zone and to off-speed stuff running away from him."

Kim's scouting reports defensively have varied - some have profiled him as a slighty below-average left fielder, some have profiled him as slightly above average. Point is, he shouldn't be expected to land on either extreme end of the defensive spectrum, and "average in left field" seems like a wise assumption. Again, Steamer's defensive projection is solely the result of the positional adjustment.

[Creamsicle]

I, for one, will be thrilled almost beyond belief if he works out to be a solid everyday player. My expectations of him are lower than that.

[Il BuonO]

A slightly above average 104 wRC+ would be very acceptable considering what they paid.

[Creamsicle]

yep I would take that gladly

[Redskins Rick]

I, for one, will be thrilled almost beyond belief if he works out to be a solid everyday player. My expectations of him are lower than that.

Keeps from having your heart shattered, if he doesn't work out.

[MDtransplant757]

I think he's what we wanted Travis Snider to be, and we may extend him after this year if he does really well.

[Ohfan67]

That would be an incredible improvement in the OF for the O's. Adam Jones was the only O's outfielder to accumulate greater than 0.5 WAR last year.

[Ohfan67]

That would be an incredible improvement in the OF for the O's. Adam Jones was the only O's outfielder to accumulate greater than 0.5 WAR last year.

**Looking at those outfielder stats was nauseating! I think I had forgotten just how bad the corner outfielders hit last year. What a gag-inducing set of performances.

[jamalshw]

I'm hoping for a close-to-average defensive LF with a .330 OBP. Anything else is gravy. I know that OBP may be optimistic, but based on the structure of the team, that's what i think we need out of him.

[oriole]

He certainly is a roll of the dice. Hard to say what to expect but I'd feel a whole lot better if we had a solid player for RF to take some pressure off Kim.

[Cakes2Kakes]

From everything I've watched and read it is obvious he has some tools, and he also has a professional approach and great work ethic. If anyone should be able to make the necessary adjustments it's Kim.

As for the pressure, he has been in the national and international spotlight for his entire Korean career, and has excelled in the big games and series.

[waroriole]

A slightly above average 104 wRC+ would be very acceptable considering what they paid.

Yeah, I'll take it.

[LA2]

He certainly is a roll of the dice. Hard to say what to expect but I'd feel a whole lot better if we had a solid player for RF to take some pressure off Kim.

Interesting point.

[SteveO]

I could live with those projections. Average to slightly above average OF, not a bad get for the money if it plays out that way.