There’s an old baseball axiom that says there’s no such thing as a bad one-year deal. The logic is simple enough: even if the signing blows up, at least you aren’t stuck with the consequences for the next five seasons. Ha-Seong Kim is putting that theory through a serious stress test. The Atlanta Braves signed Kim to a one-year, $20 million deal during the offseason, presumably expecting him to stabilize shortstop and provide a bridge. At the same time, the organization figured out its longer-term plans at the position. Instead, his 2026 season has become difficult to comprehend just by looking at the numbers.
Kim recently picked up his fourth RBI of the season against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Not his fourth RBI that afternoon.
His fourth RBI of the entire season.
That was his first RBI since June 3. Before that, he had driven in two runs during a three-game stretch in late May, which practically qualifies as a heater compared with everything that has followed.
Somehow, four RBI still doesn’t put Kim dead last among players with at least 80 plate appearances. Four hitters have fewer.
Kim’s Numbers Are Almost Impossible to Believe
The rest of the statistical picture is considerably uglier.
Among hitters with at least 80 plate appearances, Kim ranks last with a .000 isolated power mark, last with a .094 BABIP and last with a .066 batting average. His .165 on-base percentage is next-to-last, while his .066 slugging percentage and .126 wOBA both rank last.
Then there’s the advanced stuff.
Kim is tied for next-to-last with a .207 xwOBA and sits at the bottom with a staggering 29 wRC+.
Those aren’t merely disappointing numbers for a player making $20 million. They put Kim in historically dreadful territory, especially given the role he was supposed to fill for Atlanta.
There is an important caveat here, because Kim’s season has been wrecked by injuries almost from the beginning.
He slipped on ice in January while in South Korea and injured his finger, an accident that effectively started a chain of problems before the season could properly get underway. He later reinjured the same finger at the end of June and spent another month sidelined.
Kim hasn’t recorded a hit since June 3.
That makes this less a case of Atlanta simply evaluating a player incorrectly and more a case of just about everything going wrong after the contract was signed. There were reasonable questions about Kim following his 2025 season, but predicting this level of collapse would have required predicting the bizarre injury circumstances that helped produce it.
Somehow, Four Teams Have It Worse at Shortstop
The strange part is that Atlanta still doesn’t have baseball’s worst shortstop situation.
Braves shortstops have combined for 0.7 fWAR this season. That puts Atlanta in the bottom five, but four other clubs have somehow gotten even less production from the position.
Mauricio Dubón, Jim Jarvis and Jorge Mateo have helped keep things from becoming even worse. Mateo is no longer around, while Dubón has provided Atlanta with the defensive versatility that made him useful in the first place. The problem is that Dubón has been more effective defensively in the outfield than at shortstop.
Jarvis has helped defensively, but his bat has created another problem.
So Atlanta is essentially back where it started before signing Kim.
The Braves need a shortstop.
And finding one won’t be simple.
Braves Shortstop Problem Isn’t Going Away
The most obvious option is to keep patching the position until either Tate Southisene or Alex Lodise is ready for the majors, with Lodise having the more direct path. Neither appears ready to take over immediately, meaning Atlanta could be looking at a temporary solution through 2027 and possibly into 2028.
Maybe Dubón returns and continues operating as a Swiss Army knife. Maybe Jarvis develops enough offensively to earn a larger role. Maybe Atlanta finds an unexpected trade.
Free agency offers little comfort.
As things currently stand, J.P. Crawford and Jorge Mateo are the notable shortstop possibilities after this season. The 2027 group could include Jeremy Peña as the prize of the class, followed by names such as Javier Báez, Taylor Walls, and Trevor Story if Boston declines Story’s club option.
That limited market helps explain why Atlanta was willing to give Kim $20 million in the first place.
If the signing had worked, Kim could have given the Braves exactly what they needed: competent shortstop play while their younger options developed, without forcing the organization into an expensive long-term commitment or a costly trade.
Instead, Atlanta paid $20 million for a season derailed by injury and historically poor offensive production, and the original shortstop problem remains waiting for them on the other side.
So, yes, technically there’s still no such thing as a bad one-year deal.
Ha-Seong Kim’s 2026 season is making a remarkably persuasive argument otherwise.
