Zach Wilt: Why Hyun Soo Kim should be an everyday player

One of my favorite moves of the offseason was the Orioles' addition of Hyun Soo Kim. It just seemed like the perfect Dan Duquette acquisition. Over the years, the O's executive vice president of baseball operations has shown a unique ability to find major league talent in some unconventional places. Remember Nate McLouth in 2012, who was designated for assignment by the Pirates earlier in the season? How about Steve Pearce in 2014? He was released by the O's on April 27 and re-signed two days later. Then he went on to post single-season career highs in batting average (.293), RBIs (49), doubles (26) and home runs (21). Even Nelson Cruz, who led the league in homers in 2014, was signed after he turned down Texas' qualifying offer and was passed on by every other front office in the league.

This year, I figured Kim would be added to that list of surprise successes. The guy posted a career .308 batting average in the KBO, was a batting champion in 2008 and earned three Gold Glove Awards. Kim was an on-base machine in Korea and came to Charm City to play left field and potentially fill a hole atop the O's lineup. At two-years, $7 million, Kim seemed like a steal. I was psyched.

Then spring training happened. After a tough month in the Grapefruit League in which he posted a .178/.224/.178 slash line over 49 plate appearances, it looked as though Kim wouldn't have a spot on the Orioles roster. I never lost faith though, as I pointed to small sample size and .200 BABIP in my defense of my new favorite Oriole. Plus, Jung Ho Kang, a KBO shortstop signed by the Pirates the previous season, struggled in spring training in 2015, only to slash .287/.355/.461 in his rookie year.

Kim refused a minor league assignment and found himself on the bench with the Birds at the beginning of the season. Rule 5 superstar Joey Rickard took over the job I expected Kim to win and became everyone's new favorite player. How could I be foolish enough to overlook a Rule 5 pick as a breakout star? Ryan Flaherty, T.J. McFarland and Jason Garcia were all taken in the Rule 5 draft. I dropped the ball on Rickard.

The guy hit .317/.333/.488 in his first 10 games in the big leagues and played in every game in April. He recorded his first big league hit against Ervin Santana, had a three-hit game against the American League East rival Blue Jays and even has his own shirsey for sale. Kim became an afterthought, appearing in just six games in the first month of the season, starting in four of them.

Since that time however, Rickard's numbers have leveled off a bit. Don't get me wrong, .264/.316/.368 is solid, but it's not exactly what you expect from your leadoff hitter. Entering last night's contest, the Orioles' No. 1 hitters ranked 23rd in batting average (.247) and OBP (.344) and 20th in runs scored (21). Meanwhile, in his 12 games played, Kim has hit .379 and shown outstanding plate discipline with a .455 OBP. Last night, he drew a walk and scored a run on a wild pitch in the fifth inning.

With the glove, Kim, in admittedly a small sample size, appears to be an average defender (0 DRS and 0 dWAR) compared to Rickard's below average play in left field (-4 DRS and -0.7 dWAR). In terms of wins above replacement, Kim has been more valuable in his 12 games than Rickard has in his 38.

At 24-14 and first place in the AL East, it's hard to complain about anything that the Orioles are doing right now. You almost want to take the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" approach with the club. I understand that the Birds wouldn't be where they are right now without the efforts of Rickard and Kim in their respective roles. With that said, every club strives to be better and improve upon areas of weakness. I think giving Kim a chance to play a few consecutive games in left field and in the leadoff spot could make them even stronger. Hopefully, he'll be given that chance.

Zach Wilt blogs about the Orioles at Baltimore Sports Report. Follow him on Twitter: @zach_wilt. His views appear here as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our pages. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.