Padres Find Contractual Harmony With Korean Infielder Sung-moon Song
Already an appealing addition based on cool name factor alone, Korean infielder Sung-moon Song put himself on the MLB radar with a late-20s breakout for the KBO’s Kiwoom Heroes. The 29-year-old was posted by Kiwoom last month on the heels of back-to-back .900+ OPS seasons that saw him crank 45 total home runs, and FanSided’s Robert Murray was the first to report that Song’s hard work has achieved the purest form of recognition our society can offer: money.
The Padres have reportedly reached an agreement with Song on a three-year deal, which The Athletic’s Dennis Lin says is for around $15 million total. Since San Diego is sort of pot-committed to this Manny Machado character as its everyday third baseman, Lin reports that Song is expected to bounce around the infield, filling in only occasionally at his primary position and appearing at second and first base more often.
Possibly because he didn’t hit enough to have a stable defensive home until recently, Song has filled this utility role before and offers experience at all three non-shortstop infield positions. His arm is mostly wasted on the right side of the diamond, but he has the skill set to expect average or better work at all three spots. While he usually defaults to sitting back on choppers and leaning on his plus throwing arm at third base, Song is graceful and fluid on the run, accurate at different arm angles or when throwing off one leg, and maintains a reliable play clock; though that one may require a major league foot-speed recalibration. Perhaps the biggest concern is that, listed at 6-foot even, Song is a little short for a first baseman.
Out of all the potential KBO- or NPB-to-MLB targets this offseason, Song inspired some of the most disagreement between Eric Longenhagen and I due to his hit tool. The Padres have diffused some of that conflict by simply not signing Song to be an everyday corner bat, a role neither of us were quite sure he’d make enough contact to fulfill despite his .327/.397/.524 line and 14.3% strikeout rate over the past two years.
More than anything, this version of Song is simply very new. Before 2022, he didn’t have a full season of KBO at-bats to his name. Before 2024, he hadn’t shown anything beyond threadbare power. But his recent breakout is the product of a lot of intent. Song is now noticeably stronger and loading into his back hip with reckless abandon, which has brought clearly seen benefits, but offers still-looming potential drawbacks for covering pitches over the outer half of the plate.
Visually, Song pulls off to the first base side pretty aggressively at the finish of his swing, as his mid-career power surge finds him cranking out a big leg kick, counter-rotating his torso and then just letting it rip as hard as his body allows. He’s seeing the plus pull power manifest that he is trying to conjure with such a swing trait, and yet his contact rate has only dipped into the low 80s since the approach change. In some isolated moments, he’s shown the ability to flick elevated outer-half offspeed mistakes over the fence to the opposite field, as well.
Song’s production has been platoon neutral up to this point and held up against the limited exposure to premium velocity that the KBO has offered him. But his chase rate spiked to around 30% last year, per Synergy, even in an environment where the average heater Song is seeing clocks in around 91 mph, and his aggressive lefty scoop of a swing is accordingly vulnerable to velocity up and away, creating substantial hit tool risk.
Petco Park isn’t the easiest venue for relying on lefty-pull pop, especially if Song’s major league batting average is more likely to dip to .230 than maintain the pursuit of .330 that his KBO production was floating around. But overall, this looks like a nice landing for someone with the tools to be a glove-first second-division soft regular.
It just raises more questions about the Padres’ next move, since their payroll is expected to remain roughly static from last season, they just brought back starter Michael King for three years and $75 million, and Lin has already reported this winter that they’re willing to listen on trade offers for Jake Cronenworth. There are over five years and $60 million remaining on the contract extension Cronenworth signed in 2023, and compared to his fellow lefty-hitting multi-positional infielder, Song might seem like the more affordable alternative.