Padres place versatile infielder Ha-Seong Kim on 10-day IL

The Padres placed Ha-Seong Kim on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Aug. 19, with right shoulder inflammation. San Diego recalled Matthew Batten to take the open spot on the active roster.

This isn’t much of a surprise after Kim left Sunday’s game with what the team initially called a jammed shoulder. The versatile infielder dove into first base on a pickoff attempt and came up in obvious pain. 

Manager Mike Shildt said Monday that the team was encouraged by the initial MRI results, but they’ll nevertheless go without their shortstop for at least a week and a half. Shildt said Tuesday that the club wasn’t especially concerned and believed Kim could’ve made it back within 10 days, but the team instead decided to play things cautiously, via AJ Cassavell of MLB.com.

It marks the first injured list stint of Kim’s MLB career. The South Korea native has been exceptionally durable since signing a four-year deal going into the 2021 season. He reached the 150-game plateau in both 2022 and ’23. While that won’t happen this year, he could top 140 contests if the injury proves relatively insignificant.

Kim is having his typically solid season. He’s walking enough to compensate for fringy power and carries a league average .233/.330/.370 slash in 470 plate appearances. He has swiped 22 bases on 27 attempts. San Diego committed to Kim as a full-time shortstop this season after bouncing him around the infield during his first three years. He has better than average defensive grades in more than 1000 innings at the infield’s toughest spot. Tyler Wade is taking over at shortstop in his absence.

The 28-year-old Kim is headed back to free agency next offseason. He’ll certainly decline his end of an $8M mutual option in favor of a $2M buyout. Kim has a shot at another four- or five-year deal that’d come with a much stronger average annual value than the $7M he received when he was first coming over from Korea. 

A serious shoulder injury could naturally impact his market value. It seems he dodged a bullet with a fairly minor issue that might only sideline him for a minimal amount of time.