Hyeseong Kim dodges a bullet with encouraging WBC update during Dodgers roster battle

World Baseball Classic pool play officially wrapped up on Wednesday night, with Team Italy buying its way into the quarterfinals with a win over Team Mexico — and dragging Team USA along with them after a Mark DeRosa gaffe that he won't hear the end of anytime soon.

On the left side of the bracket, Korea will take on the Dominican Republic and the USA will face Canada on Friday. On the opposite side, it's Puerto Rico vs. Italy and Venezuela vs. Japan on Saturday.

A few teams have already dealt with injury issues — Italy lost catcher Kyle Teel to a hamstring string, which will keep him out for 4-6 weeks. Korea (and the Dodgers) got a scare when Hyeseong Kim was kept out of the lineup during their last pool play game against Australia, after he injured his hand during their matchup against Taiwan.

Kim stans held their breaths and waited for an update, which the California Post's Jack Harris provided on Tuesday. The hand injury wasn't "anything of concern," and he should be good to go by the quarterfinal against an electric DR team.

Hyeseong Kim is fine after hand injury kept him out of Korea's last WBC pool play game

Kim has a roster battle waiting for him back in the States. Dave Roberts has all but confirmed that Santiago Espinal will be on the Opening Day roster, taking what is ostensibly Kiké Hernández's spot, but Alex Freeland is still struggling in spring games, hitting .148 with a .573 OPS, as he and Kim are still in the running for Tommy Edman's spot.

Kim left on a high, but hasn't been faring as well in the WBC as he had been in Dodgers' camp. He had a clutch, game-tying homer against Team Japan, but is batting just .100 with a .650 OPS overall. Korea's real star has been 25-year-old infielder Bo-gyeong Moon, currently the tournament's RBI leader with 11 through four games.

If there was ever a time when Kim needed to step up, it'll be against the DR, whose lineup is filled with powerhouses Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Ketel Marte (among many others).

The homer was a good sign, but Kim needs to justify his absence from Dodgers camp if he wants to get around Freeland — and maybe even Espinal who, at this point, can't be ruled out from taking the starting second baseman role away from both of them.