What to Make of Ha-Seong Kim's Slow Start for Braves

In a sport like baseball, you can't win them all. Sure, there are 20 examples in the loss column for the Atlanta Braves, but that's not the type of lack of winning the focus will be on. It's a $20 million example.

The final month of last season brought a lot of hope that Ha-Seong Kim could be their guy at shortstop. Bolstering the position with him specifically was a high enough priority that they opened their wallets and gave him a pay bump after declined his player option.

Since then, there have been two moments where this expectation was squashed in a hurry. The first was over the offseason when he sustained his finger injury. Less than a month after the pen was put to paper, the Braves had to look to someone else to be their opening day shortstop.

After that has been his performance since his return. He looked sharp in his rehab assignment, building that hype back up that the already strong lineup was only going to get stronger. Not the case so far.

Kim has gone 4-for-45 (.089), with no extra-base hits, five walks and 14 strikeouts. On top of the poor showing at the plate, he already has three errors in the infield.

The metics don't bode well for him either. He's had a hard-hit rate of 27.6%, and a barrel rate of 3.7%. This hasn't been a Michael Harris II situation when was tough luck in the first couple of weeks of the season.

He recently had to sit out for three games as he figures things out. With options such as Mauricio Dubon and Jorge Mateo showing they can contribute, the Braves don't have much of an excuse to sacrifice a spot in the lineup.

To be fair to Kim, he didn't have a spring training. Nine rehab assignment games likely weren't going to do much to make up for it either. He likely does need the extra time to get going.

It's a tough balancing act, because the Braves are 60 games into the season. It's June. The focus is on a push for the playoffs. They obviously want to get Kim to the point where he can succeed, but they've also lost three of the last four games they've penciled him into the lineup.

Again, to be fair, some of those aren't just on him. There was a lack of performance throughout the lineup. But when a team is looking to stay consistent, they're going to look at all parts of the lineup and see what needs to change. Shortstop has once again proven to be one of them.

Meanwhile, Jorge Mateo, who was signed in response to Kim's injury, is batting .316 with an .876 OPS this season. He's on a five-game hitting streak with two multi-hit games mixed in. His latest success led to the Braves using Mateo as a designated hitter, even when Kim was seeing action at shortstop.

It make more sense at the moment to give him the time, like he had been while Kim was out.

It would be nice to see Kim get going. No one is actively rooting against him. When that turnaround arrives, even if it's a sign that a turnaround could be coming, that credit will go his way without fail. However, the players who are performing the best should be the ones who see action in the lineup, regardless of who is being paid what.

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