Hyun Soo Kim meets the press

SARASOTA, Fla. - Twenty-seven players arrived in the clubhouse this morning during the hour that the media was allowed inside. Included in the group were Hyun Soo Kim, J.J. Hardy, Dariel Alvarez, Ryan Flaherty, Christian Walker, Henry Urrutia, Xavier Avery, L.J. Hoes and Steve Tolleson.

Position players aren't due until Tuesday, with the first full-squad workout the following day.

The roll call also included pitchers Brad Brach, Chris Tillman, Kevin Gausman, T.J. McFarland, Miguel Gonzalez, Odrisamer Despaigne, Mike Wright, Vance Worley, Jason Garcia, Tyler Wilson, Andy Oliver, Jeff Belveau, Andrew Triggs, Ashur Tolliver and Oliver Drake.

Minor league catchers Chance Sisco, Jonah Heim and Francisco Pena also arrived before 9 a.m.

Closer Zach Britton tweeted that he was on his way to camp. He jokingly asked that Tillman and Gonzalez wait for him.

Looking at the lockers, it felt like Throwback Thursday with Tolleson, Avery, Hoes, Pedro Beato and Todd Redmond among the camp invites.

About a dozen members of the South Korean media are here to interview Kim, whose locker is situated between Alvarez and Rule 5 pick Joey Rickard. Kim stood outside the media workroom, his back to the huge angry bird logo and spoke through interpreter Danny Lee.

Asked whether he was nervous, Kim smiled and said, "A lot."

Kim flew into Los Angeles on Jan. 23 and arrived in Sarasota last week to continue his workouts.

Is there anything about the U.S. that surprised him so far?

"Not so much until today," Kim said. "The media and the press were in the locker room, and there were females, too. And there was still changing (clothes) without worrying or anything. It was a newly culture shock."

Here's more from Kim, who signed a two-year, $7 million contract with the Orioles:

On whether he's excited: "Not too much excitement right now, as far as we're just getting started, but there are a lot of things that I expect. Mingling with the players. I'm getting ready for the camp."

On his biggest adjustments: "The language, the communications."

On the biggest adjustments baseball-wise: "Still the same thing, even in baseball. I still have to communicate with the coaches, the players. I have to communicate with them. There are limitations because of the language, so I'll get adapted to it. As far as techniques, that's what I've been doing for years, so I'll be OK with those."

On where he'll fit into the lineup and on the field: "As far as lineups and positions, that's all manager's decisions and all I can do and all I will do in order to get into any lineup is to prepare to hit and run and play defense the way the manager wants me to."

On benefit of working out in Los Angeles: "Very much. Working with Brady (Anderson) in California, the way the procedures of the workouts here about 90 percent of the things are about what I did with Brady. About 10 percent of the things additionally I did here. So it was very easy to adapt."

On whether he feels pressure to represent Korean baseball: "Not as far as the number of players who are here, but last year (Jung Ho) Kang did a great job in America, so I know I have the responsibility to carry that on. Americans (now) know that Koreans can actually play just like Kang does. We've got Kang here."

On whether he spoke with Kang: "I've talked to him pretty much every day on a daily basis. Now I'm a close friend to Kang. He's giving me a lot of advice that I can actually adapt to American culture."

On the decision to come to the U.S.: "As far as coming to America and making decisions, it wasn't much of a hardship. It was a very comfortable decision to actually make another challenge in a different country. Another thing was a marriage. I just got married. I was talking to my wife, and she was very OK with that, too. Now we think we'll be OK with that throughout the year."

On his workouts with Anderson: "I worked with Brady for about two weeks in Los Angeles and it was a very new experience, the American way of doing the workouts. There were things that I did in Korea and new that I did in America. The Orioles helped me to get adapted without Anderson, too. So that was a great help."

On how spring training is different in Korea: "In Korea, the workout time is very, very long. Their days off are in a rotation. You work out three days and then a day off, three days and a day off, four days and a day off. But here there are no certain days off, so I have to get ready on an everyday basis. That's the one thing that's very different. To talk about the things I did in Korea, when I was getting ready, I was working out (waiting) for the day off. But here, you just have to work out on a daily basis with getting your body to a right percentage that you have to work out every day. So I kind of have to make adaptations to American's daily workouts here."

On what he knew about the Orioles: "He knows they won the (division) championship in '14. I basically knew (about) most of the players in MLB, especially the Orioles. A lot of the popular players that I know. And I'm able to see them now."

On his favorite player before coming to the Orioles: "Adam Jones."