Dodgers Option Kim to Triple-A, Freeland Earns Opening Day Roster Spot

Hyeseong Kim slashed .407/.448/.519 across 30 spring plate appearances and punctuated his Cactus League with a home run in Saturday's finale. None of it was enough. The Dodgers optioned the versatile infielder and outfielder to Triple-A Oklahoma City on Sunday, clearing the final spot on their 26-man Opening Day roster for top prospect Alex Freeland.

The World Baseball Classic proved to be the turning point. Playing for Team South Korea, Kim went 1-for-12 with six strikeouts, his lone hit a game-tying two-run homer against Samurai Japan in a game Korea went on to lose. When he rejoined the Dodgers, manager Dave Roberts delivered a blunt assessment.

"He certainly scuffled over there, playing in the WBC," Roberts said. "Here right now, he seems out of sync with his swing. So I think that I'm going to try to get him out there every day and to try to give him some consistency, and we'll go from there."

Roberts had been candid about Kim's development needs even before the WBC disrupted his spring momentum. "Offensively, there's certainly more velocity," Roberts said earlier in camp. "Controlling, getting his path right. Being able to handle balls that move late, handle velocity, use the whole field. He's going to put the ball in play. He can run. I just think he needs repetition." Roberts added that Kim "can certainly win ballgames with his defense alone," but framed the demotion as a question of what is best for both the player and the organization.

Kim, who posted a .280/.314/.385 line with a 95 wRC+ across 170 plate appearances in a bench role for Los Angeles last season, was aware of what was at stake heading into the final days of camp. "I want to make sure I focus on the things that I'm good at, such as defense and baserunning," Kim said after returning from the WBC, jet-lagged enough that 3 p.m. local time felt like bedtime. "In the WBC, my numbers weren't great, so I want to make sure that this last week I want to focus on my hitting also and hopefully make the Opening Day roster."

That window closed Sunday.

Freeland's path to the roster raised eyebrows given his bat-to-ball struggles in the Cactus League. He hit just .116/.286/.233 across 56 plate appearances, going 4-for-34 with a .304 on-base percentage. But the Dodgers pointed to his plate discipline as the deciding factor: Freeland drew 11 walks against exactly 11 strikeouts, a walk-to-strikeout parity that persuaded the front office his approach was trending in the right direction.

Freeland is expected to platoon at second base with Miguel Rojas while Tommy Edman continues recovering from an offseason ankle surgery. The move also prompted reassignments for Nick Senzel, Jack Suwinski, and Seby Zavala to minor league camp.

Kim will not travel with the Dodgers to Japan for the Tokyo Series. With him off the roster, Andy Pages and James Outman take over as the primary candidates for the starting center field job, a competition that opened up the moment Kim's defensive versatility was removed from the equation. The Dodgers knew from the moment they signed him that his offense was a work in progress. Oklahoma City is where that work continues.