SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Seong-Jun Kim has dealt with a lot of culture shock over the past 10 months.
The Korean two-way player, ranked as the Rangers’ No. 15 prospect, was signed last May out of Gwangju Jeil High School in South Korea. He played briefly in the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League and got his high school diploma in January before returning stateside for Spring Training in Surprise, Ariz.
Even more culture shock is in store once he joins an affiliate after camp breaks, likely at Single-A Hickory (North Carolina).
“It’s a completely different environment, to be honest,” Kim said through his interpreter Geehune Kim. “The Korean baseball culture is different. Everything is different. The food is especially different. It took one or like two weeks to adjust to this new environment. But all of the players, my teammates, the staff and coaches, they treated me like part of the family, so that made me feel comfortable. I’m getting used to this culture really fast.”
Kim pitched in his first official game on Friday against Royals prospects in the third annual Spring Breakout game, where he even was able to see a friendly face in Kansas City catching prospect Hyungchan Um. The two grew up in the same area in South Korea.
In the Rangers’ Breakout loss, Kim was able to both hit and pitch. He tossed a scoreless fourth inning after allowing a one-out double but stranding the runner at third with an unassisted double play by third baseman Jack Wheeler.
He went 0-for-2 at the plate, though according to MLB Pipeline, “he projects as an average hitter with a good approach and 15-homer power from the right side of the plate, and he could raise his offensive ceiling as he adds strength to his projectable [six-foot] frame.”
“I tried to have no pressure, just show my abilities and skills during the game,” Kim said. “This is the same game as it was in Korea.”
COMPLETE RANGERS PROSPECT COVERAGE
Nick Janssen, the Single-A Hickory manager, also acted as manager for the Rangers’ prospect group in the Spring Breakout game. He expects to see Kim on his roster at some point, maybe even when camp breaks.
And Kim isn’t even the only two-way prospect the Rangers have in the system right now. Two-way stars at the big league level are few and far between, but Texas is rolling the dice with both Kim and Josh Owens (No. 6).
“I think you've bet on the special people,” Janssen said of Kim and Owens. “They're both two special individuals with how dedicated they are to both sides of the ball. Obviously, it's extremely difficult, and you don’t want them to compare themselves to Shohei Ohtani. Just be who they are. That's why you sign them. We’re got two really good individuals that work very hard at their craft on both sides of the ball. I think really bright things are ahead of them in the future. It was really, really good to see them today.”
Dalton Pence
Dalton Pence, the Rangers’ No. 12 prospect, started the Spring Breakout matchup on Friday, tossing 2 1/3 scoreless frames with five strikeouts. He did not allow any hits during his outing but was constantly pitching with traffic on the basepaths, as he did allow three walks and made a throwing error.
During his professional debut last season, Pence posted a 2.73 ERA, .193 opponent’s average and 32 percent strikeout rate between the two A-ball levels.
“Today was a game of adjustments, right?” Janssen said. “I think he did a good job. Obviously, he struggled a little bit, but what makes him good is he's able to make the adjustment on the fly there and still get through his innings and get to where he needs to be. So I thought it was really good for him to work around traffic, make some big pitches when he needed to. Overall, he looked good to me.”
Other highlights
RHP Aidan Curry: 2 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
C Malcolm Moore (No. 18 prospect): 0-for-2, 2 K, caught one runner stealing
“Aidan Curry looked really good to me,” Janssen said. “I think there were a lot of things, but Curry looked very good coming in with the velocity and being able to get his outs to cover his innings there. I love the younger guys getting exposure to the game, I thought it was really good overall. I thought Malcolm Moore threw the ball extremely well behind the plate, which was really good to see. That was really encouraging. There were some highlights all over the field, but those are [two quick topics].”