{"id":418790,"date":"2026-08-28T01:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T01:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/418790\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T01:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T01:52:11","slug":"rangers-prospect-seong-jun-kim-showcasing-two-way-talents-in-single-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/418790\/","title":{"rendered":"Rangers Prospect Seong-Jun Kim Showcasing Two-Way Talents in Single-A"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6h\">The Texas Rangers are developing a two-way prospect in the minors. And now, the 19-year-old is showing what he can do on both sides of the ball with the Single-A Hickory Crawdads. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6m\">Seong-Jun Kim, the Rangers&#8217; No. 8 prospect on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/milb\/prospects\/rangers\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">MLB Pipeline<\/a> for 2026, was called up to Single-A last week. He&#8217;s played in just five games so far for the Hickory Crawdads, but the teenager from South Korea has already given Texas fans a brief preview of his skill set on the diamond. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6r\">Most recently, Kim recorded his first Single-A extra-base hit on Tuesday by roping a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/gameday\/826768\/play\/39\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">two-run double<\/a> down the left-field line. He followed that up by <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MLBPipeline\/status\/2092761007533785109?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">tossing<\/a> two scoreless innings on Wednesday in Hickory&#8217;s 8-3 victory over the Wilson Warbirds, the Single-A affiliate of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/onsi\/minor-league-baseball\/news\/brewers-prospect-luis-pena-checks-off-major-milestone-following-double-a-promotion-justin3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Milwaukee Brewers<\/a>. It&#8217;s obviously a small sample size right now, but Kim is showing early signs of his two-way potential. <\/p>\n<p>How has Seong-Jun Kim played so far in the minors?<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/01m12aej9fpd19j7xfvh.jpg\" alt=\"Texas Rangers prospect Seong-Jun Kim\" title=\"Texas Rangers prospect Seong-Jun Kim\" width=\"360\" height=\"203\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"78\"\/><\/p>\n<p>May 18, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Seong-Jun Kim of the Texas Rangers talks to the media after signing with the team before the game against the Houston Astros at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7e\">After signing with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/onsi\/minor-league-baseball\/news\/rangers-top-prospect-sebastian-walcott-shines-in-return-from-injury-justin3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Rangers<\/a> last May, Kim played in just a handful of games in the Dominican Summer League in 2025. This year, the 19-year-old has spent most of the season with the Rookie-level ACL Rangers. In 48 games with the ACL Rangers, the righty-swinging prospect produced a .303 batting average, a .419 on-base percentage, and a .964 OPS with seven home runs, 34 RBIs, and eight stolen bases. The right-hander also made five starts on the mound at that level, posting a 1.04 ERA and 10 strikeouts in 8 2\/3 innings. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7j\">So far in Single-A, Kim is 2-for-11 at the plate and has pitched four scoreless innings for the Hickory Crawdads. With Hickory&#8217;s season set to end soon, though, the Rangers are likely most interested in giving the young prospect a brief taste of Single-A action before 2027. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7o\">In addition to hitting and pitching, Kim also plays shortstop. The 19-year-old has pitched in eight games, made 16 appearances at shortstop, and been used as a designated hitter 32 times so far in his minor league career. He&#8217;s considered a &#8220;solid defender at shortstop with a strong arm and average speed,&#8221; according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/milb\/prospects\/rangers\/seong-jun-kim-834605\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">MLB Pipeline<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7t\">While it&#8217;s still very early in Kim&#8217;s professional career, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/fannation\/mlb\/fastball\/news\/jacob-degrom-finally-reaches-milestone-many-mlb-fans-probably-thought-he-already-hit-justin3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Texas<\/a> prospect is clearly a player worth monitoring in the minors for the rest of this season and beyond. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" preventdefault:click=\"\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\" on:pointerenter=\"q-_y8kK1PO.js#s_1NOcOpHWmT0\" on:touchstart=\"q-Clkw_Lhy.js#s_R8AiGTDeM28\" on:focus=\"q-DFfNlQuc.js#s_gxiTM6qMMu8\" on:click=\"q-B1mBfeCa.js#s_lDqay9E5m5g[0]\" q:id=\"7z\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Texas Rangers are developing a two-way prospect in the minors. And now, the 19-year-old is showing what&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151],"class_list":["post-418790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arlington","tag-arlington","tag-arlington-headlines","tag-arlington-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}