Some teams would have been relatively easy to establish themselves as the main players, but they said they wanted to go to a team with good infielders and grow up."안전놀이터

Kim Ha-sung (30), who declared his bid for the U.S. Major League ahead of the 2021 season, joined hands with the San Diego Padres. The deal is worth 28 million U.S. dollars for four years. It is a large amount by KBO league standards, but it was hard to say that it is enough to guarantee a starting pitcher in the Major League.

In the San Diego Padres, Fernando Tatis Jr. (26), the main shortstop, was holding out. Tatis Jr. was a top shortstop with outstanding defense capability and power to hit more than 20 home runs this season. At the time of the 2021 season, he was 23 years old. It seemed natural that the team would continue to raise Tatis Jr., who was younger and better than Kim Ha-sung, as its main shortstop. Ahead of the 2021 season, the San Diego Padres even granted Tatis Jr. an extension of 340 million U.S. dollars for 14 years. It seemed almost impossible for Kim Ha-sung to compete with the main shortstop.

Still, Kim Ha-sung wore a San Diego uniform, saying he would challenge himself. At the time of the contract, a close aide to Kim Ha-sung said, "It is true that San Diego and the Toronto Blue Jays were the final candidates. Some teams might have been relatively easy to establish themselves as the main players, but Kim Ha-sung said he wanted to go to a team with good infielders and grow up. He said he could learn better if he saw players like Manny Machado (33) from the side."

The first year was as expected. Third baseman Machado, shortstop Tatis Jr. and second baseman Jake Cronenworth (31) had very high walls of key players who occupied positions where Kim could play. It was worth drawing a competition with Cronenworth, who spent the season of 2021 as the first All-Star of his career. As he failed to adapt quickly to the balls of Major League pitchers, Kim had a batting average of 0.202 (54 hits in 267), eight homers, 34 RBIs, and an OPS of 0.622.

In an interview with the U.S. media "The Athletic," Kim Ha-sung confessed that he even had a circular hair loss, looking back on his difficult debut season.

Kim Ha-sung said, "That was when I really hit the bottom mentally in my baseball career.