Hyeseong Kim flashes stunning power in Triple-A as Dodgers future remains in question

Although sending offseason international signing Hyeseong Kim to the minors to start his baseball career in the United States probably wasn't what the Dodgers planned on when they got him, it had to be done. Kim picked up his numbers through nine appearances in March, hitting .333 with a .945 OPS, but his slow start in February (.071 average, .259 OPS) wasn't enough to persuade the team that he was ready for major league action.

He was sent to minor-league camp on March 12, then headed out to Oklahoma City to begin the season and work out some kinks on offense. The Dodgers completely overhauled his swing in Glendale, and it was understandable that he might need a longer period of time to adjust and ease into major league hitting.

The Dodgers gave Andy Pages what probably would've been Kim's spot on the roster, but he feels like a temporary solution until the team sees enough improvement from Kim to promote him for his big league debut.

Kim put a finer point on that theory on Saturday night when he hit his second and third homers for the Comets. His second of the night left the bat at 106.3 MPH and traveled a mammoth 462 feet.

Hyeseong Kim strengthens case to join Dodgers in the major leagues after smashing a 462-foot homer in Triple-A

Kim was far from a power hitter in the KBO — he hit just 40 homers in nine seasons there — but if a new swing was all he needed for the Dodgers to unlock that kind of power from him, then their player development system should take a bow.

Ideally, Kim would become a Tommy Edman 2.0 for the Dodgers, a guy who can play all over the field while also flashing completely unexpected power. A lot has been made of "Tommy Tanks" and Edman's major league-leading six homers (tied with the likes of Aaron Judge, Kyle Schwarber, and Mike Trout) because he, like Kim, was far from a power hitter in five seasons with the Cardinals.

All told, Kim is batting .290 with a .943 OPS in 14 games at Triple-A and has gotten at least one hit in all but three games. There may still be a few yellow flags that the Dodgers are keeping an eye on — he's struck out 17 times in 62 at-bats — there's certainly reason to believe that Kim will replace Pages sooner rather than later.