offseason surgery<\/a> to repair a tendon in his right middle finger. The Braves activated him on May 11.<\/p>\nSpring training is an instrumental part of the season for most players. It allows hitters to work on a variety of mechanics in a relaxed environment. The 52 at-bats Kim has had this season are roughly equivalent to the higher end of a spring training sample. Thanks to his finger injury, Kim has had to shake off his rust at the plate under regular-season conditions.<\/p>\n
Sure, he\u2019s catching up to speed, but the expectation to deliver for his club still looms large. Some players come to the plate with a game plan, but quickly abandon it if it doesn\u2019t quickly lead to the desired results.<\/p>\n
Kim continues to put in the work, having conversations with hitting coach Tim Hyers through his interpreter, David Lee, and consistently reviewing video of his batting-practice swings on the team\u2019s iPad.<\/p>\n
He had an RBI single against Patrick Corbin last Wednesday in a win over the Toronto Blue Jays, breaking a 0-for-14 skid, but that was his lone knock of the week.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe speed of this game is just very different, especially for guys that haven\u2019t had spring training,\u201d Weiss said. \u201cThis carousel is going really fast, and you have to try to jump on in the middle of a season. It\u2019s difficult, but Kim is going to be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Braves banking on Austin Wynns to bring offensive output<\/p>\n
The offensive production at catcher has significantly decreased since Drake Baldwin went on the injured list, with Braves catchers going 1-for-22 in 12 games heading into Friday\u2019s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.<\/p>\n
The Braves are hoping Austin Wynns can add a spark offensively behind the dish.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe offensive potential is there,\u201d Weiss said. \u201cGuys stick around later in their careers; there\u2019s a reason for that. It\u2019s (the) game plan that gets to handling a pitching staff, the baseball IQ, especially at that position.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 35-year-old is known for his game planning, which the Braves have made clear was among their reasons for acquiring him. However, compared to Sandy Le\u00f3n and the recently designated-for-assignment Chadwick Tromp, Wynns has shown a burst of offensive production.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a blessing,\u201d Wynns said. \u201cThis is where I want to be. I feel like I can definitely be a good asset to the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wynns had his best season in 2025, hitting .291 with six home runs and 21 RBIs, split between the Cincinnati Reds and the Athletics. It was good enough for the A\u2019s to re-sign him as the backup catcher, but he was designated for assignment after starting this year 3-for-39 over 14 games.<\/p>\n
After signing a minor-league contract with the Angels, he hit .333 with two home runs and a .955 OPS in Triple-A Salt Lake before the Braves acquired him Thursday night.<\/p>\n
Although Wynns is with the Braves for the first time, he is familiar with Mike Yastrzemski, as they were both part of the same Baltimore Orioles draft class in 2013. Wynns also caught Braves reliever Tyler Kinley when the two were teammates on the Colorado Rockies in 2023.<\/p>\n
Wynns\u2019 strongest connection in the Atlanta clubhouse is with lefty pitcher Dylan Lee; they both attended Fresno State and have kept in touch throughout their professional careers.<\/p>\n
Wynns has been in the league since 2018, and the Braves left a strong impression on him in the limited time he\u2019s been with the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey can get punched in the face and then answer back,\u201d Wynns said. \u201cIt\u2019s just like, that\u2019s a winning culture, and there\u2019s no panic. Everyone has a job to do, and this team is older, so everyone just gets it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA \u2014 Braves manager Walt Weiss knows exactly what Ha-Seong Kim is capable of when he\u2019s at his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":724025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[4996,64,63,591,85],"class_list":["post-724024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=724024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/724025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=724024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=724024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=724024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}