'Awesome' Kim Hye-sung hit a home run against Yamamoto! → The Japanese media also made a special note, saying, "My unexpected first home run in the camp was a Korea-Japan match in the 'Korea-Japan Exhibition'.""

*This content was translated by AI.

With the opening of the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) just around the corner, Kim Hye-sung (27) laughed at the "Preview Korea-Japan match" held at the Arizona Dodgers Camp. He hit his "Camp No. 1" home run against Yoshinobu Yamamoto (28, LA Dodgers), the ace and teammate of the Japanese national team.

According to Japanese media Sports Hochi on the 18th, Kim Hye-sung hit a home run against Yamamoto, who pitched live in the spring camp at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona.

Sports Hochi said, "Yamamoto allowed an unexpected home run in the 'preview Korea-Japan match'. Kim Hye-sung, an infielder with the Korean WBC national team, suffered his first blow of the season, he reported.

Yamamoto threw 33 pitches against a total of eight batters, including Kim Hye-sung. The record is three hits and two strikeouts.

Dodgers' main hitters, including Kim Hye-sung, Teoscar Hernandez and Andy Pazs, took the batter's box on the day. The most eye-catching confrontation was with Kim Hye-sung, who was selected as an infielder for the Korean national team at WBC.

First, Yamamoto gave up a walk to Hernandez in the first inning. However, he showed stable pitching by dealing with subsequent hitters with missteps and strikeouts.

However, Kim Hye-sung did not easily fall for it. According to reports, Kim Hye-sung pushed Yamamoto's ball and connected it with a solo home run over the left fence. This was Yamamoto's first home run in this camp live pitching.

Kim Hye-sung's bat didn't stop here. Kim Hye-sung, who appeared as the first batter in the second inning, showed off his strong batting sense by hitting a hit in the middle against Yamamoto. Of the three hits Yamamoto allowed on the day, two were beaten by Kim Hye-sung.

The two have already faced off in their first live pitching on the 14th. At that time, Yamamoto reportedly showed off his powerful pitching by spraying a 94-mile fastball (about 151 kilometers) and breaking Kim Hye-sung's bat. Kim Hye-sung showed off his bat skills by hitting two hits against him.

And this time, he even hit a home run and surprised Yamamoto's chest. However, after pitching, it is rumored that Kim Hye-sung and Yamamoto shared friendships with each other with bright smiles.

Sports Hochi said, "Yamamoto was hit in the prelude to the WBC Korea-Japan match. Kim Hye-sung of the Korean national team became Yamamoto's first home run in the camp," he reported.

The media then said, "South Korea and Japan will face each other in the first round of the WBC at Tokyo Dome on the 7th of next month. Yamamoto is known to be likely to start his first game against Taiwan on the 6th. Therefore, it seems unlikely that he will take the mound against South Korea. Still, Kim Hye-sung made a good bat sound in the preview Korea-Japan match. After the training, Kim Hye-sung and Yamamoto smiled and encouraged each other," he said.

Meanwhile, Kim Hye-sung, who entered the Major League ahead of the 2025 season, played his role in the Dodgers. In 71 games in the 2025 season, he played a batting average of 0.280 (45 hits in 161 at-bats), three homers, six doubles, one triple, 17 RBIs, 19 runs, seven walks, two strikeouts, a 13 steals (1 failed) on-base percentage of 0.314, a slugging percentage of 0.385 and an OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) of 0.699.

Furthermore, Kim Hye-sung was on the roster of all postseason games last year, from the National League Wild Card Series to the Division Series (NLDS, best-of-five), the Championship Series (NLCS, best-of-seven), and the World Series (WS, best-of-seven). In the fourth game of the NLDS against the Philadelphia Phillies, he played as a substitute in the 11th inning of overtime and scored the winning goal. In the end, he finally enjoyed the joy of winning the World Series with his Dodgers teammates.

However, Kim Hye-sung is not yet a clear starting member of the Dodgers. He played only two games in the postseason last year. He has already proved his skills, but he has to show good performance again in this spring camp. Therefore, even though it is live pitching, it is certainly a good thing to hit a home run against Yamamoto.

Now, Kim Hye-sung plans to join the WBC national team after spending some time in the Dodgers' spring camp. Kim Hye-sung said in an interview with reporters before leaving the country last month, "Me and (Lee) Jung-hoo are in the middle of age, so I think we should show them well with our actions. If I get selected for the national team and go to the WBC, I think I have to prepare well and show it to you at the ballpark with actions rather than words," he said.

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*This content was translated by AI.