The Los Angeles Dodgers announced on Friday that they have agreed to terms with utility player Hyeseong Kim on a three-year contract for $12.5 million with a two-year club option for 2028 and 2029. To make room on the 40-man roster, the club designated catcher Diego Cartaya for assignment.
The 25-year-old Kim joins the Dodgers after spending the last eight seasons in the Korean Baseball League. He finished the 2024 season with the Kiwoom Heroes batting .326 with 11 homers, 30 stolen bases and 75 RBI over 127 games. He spent six seasons with Kiwoom, hitting .309 with 32 homers, 280 stolen bases and 339 RBI.
The lefty-hitting Kim was the KBO stolen base leader in 2021, swiping 46 bases in 50 chances and has notched 211 stolen bases since 2018, which is the most in the KBO during that six-year span. The 5-foot-10, 175-pounder won three straight KBO Fielding Awards from 2021-23 while playing four different positions for Kiwoom.
Although considered a utility man, Kim was primarily a second baseman for Kiwoom over the last two seasons. In 2024, he played exclusively at the keystone in 119 games. In 2023, he started 126 games at second base and five games at shortstop. Kim hasn’t appeared in the outfield since 2020.
A native of South Korea, Kim started his professional career with Nexen in the KBO as an 18 year old in 2017, playing 152 games in two seasons and recording five homers and 47 RBI with the Heroes. He was part of the 2022 Asian Games, winning the Gold Medal for South Korea, slashing .292/.500/.370.
Cartaya has yet to play in the major leagues, but he has been a household name for Dodger fans for years. The Venezuela native was one of the best talents in his amateur signing class and earned a $2.5 million bonus back in 2018.
The release of such a highly touted catching prospect is certainly surprising, given that Cartaya was considered one of the Dodgers’ perennial top prospects and viewed as a blue-chipper at one point. This type of move often suggests a major shift in organizational evaluation, particularly after he hit around the Mendoza line across two levels last year and only .189/.278/.379 over 93 games exclusively at Double-A Tulsa in 2023.
The impact on the Los Angeles farm system is notable, as catching depth is always at a premium in baseball. Cartaya represented a significant international investment for the organization. This move likely elevates the importance of other catching prospects like Hunter Feduccia, Dalton Rushing and Jesus Galiz.
(Juan Dorado furnished some information provided in this report)
Think Blue Planning Committee 
Two wildly unexpected moves today.
Firstly, the signing of Kim when nobody was mentioning the Dodgers as a possibility. Other blogs were trying to figure out how we could make enough room to bring back Kike, and now they go ahead and sign another utility guy from out of the blue. Looks like the slight chance that Kike would return has now gone very close to zero.
Then, to make room for Kim, they dfa former golden boy Cartaya, who is still only 23. He had a great year in 2022, followed by two very very mediocre years in 2023-24.
Someone will take a chance on him and in return will send us a 28 year old minor league pitcher with a lifetime 7.94 ERA and more walks than strikeouts, but at least they won’t be able to say we just gave him away.
Now that they’ve made room for Kim on the 40-man roster, they still have to create a space on the 26-man. That probably means we say good-bye to CT3, Lux or Rojas, with Rojas being the least likely.
There are lots of teams who could use Lux (Mariners, Yankees and Cubs among them), but I’m not sure that Andrew is willing to just hand second base to Kim on his first year over here. I’ll be interested to see how this plays out, but Kim is an interesting signing, once he gets established over here, which (as with other Korean players) could take a year.
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Lots of options heading into spring training, that’s for sure. Curious to see if the front office crew tries to land a decent relief arm or two.
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Not sure if they’ll settle for “decent”. I think they’re going for top-of-the-line types or nothing. I’m still hoping AF will swallow hard and give Tanner Scott 4 years because that’s what it will take to get him.
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Might want to invest in a ‘decent’ southpaw considering Anthony Banda’s propensity to swing at inanimate objects. 😀
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Let’s hope he learned his lesson. He was an amazing pickup last year.
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Might help to have another lefty to balance things out. When Banda was out, Vesia was the only southpaw remaining.
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They added southpaw reliever Jack Dreyer to the 40-man to protect him from the Rule 5. He had a nice year at OKC so maybe he’ll get a shot this year.
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Looks like Gavin Lux is heading to Cincinnati.
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I remember when Farhan was here and announced one day that “Dee Gordon is our second baseman”. Forty-eight hours later he was on his way out of town.
When Gavin heard Gomes say the other day that the plan was to have Mookie at short and Lux at second, he should have immediately started packing his bags.
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Farhan is looking for a job, I hear. And we’re one step closer of my prophecy of Mookie being the opening day second baseman coming true.
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If it comes to pass, baseball fans everywhere will refer to it as The Mookie Prophecy. Definitely has a ring to it.
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Love the Kim signing. Cartaya was underperforming and has regressed as a hitter. Kim to me is a better defensive player than Lux, who has never reached his potential as a Dodger. LA now has a lot of infield options. I am in the hospital in Long Beach. I had surgery on my ankle back in December and it has not exactly healed very fast. I am getting better and hoping to head home to Colorado soon.
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