An unknown free agent feels like Blue Jays' most likely success story

The Toronto Blue Jays have many different spots around their roster in need of an upgrade, but there's a generic one that stands out above the rest: the offense.

It's no secret that the 2024 Blue Jays struggled mightily on the offensive side of the ball, and they're already "in" on virtually every offense-oriented player on the open market this offseason. There's an obvious need for one or even two bats to be inserted into their 2025 lineup if there's going to be any hope for contention.

They're looking at Juan Soto, Alex Bregman, Willy Adames, Anthony Santander and a whole slew of other names, but Blue Jays fans know how this works by now: the club is going to be "interested" in every player on the market, but they're going to come away with a player (or two) that few people are familiar with and cross their fingers this works out.

Last offseason, the Jays chased after Shohei Ohtani and Cody Bellinger only to come away with Justin Turner, Kevin Kiermaier and Isiah Kiner-Falefa. Sure, they got some decent production from that trio, but there's a clear need for more.

There's one interesting player that could be this year's version of the trio Toronto came away with last offseason: Korean infielder Hyseong Kim. The 25-year-old doesn't get talked about much as one of the more intriguing infielders that'll be on the market this winter, but he's going to be posted by his team, the Kiwoom Heroes, next week and will then begin the process of joining an MLB organization for the first time.

Kim is an eight-year veteran in the Korean Baseball Organization and has done nothing but produce ever since he first debuted at the age of 18. The long-time member of the Heroes owns a career .304 batting average with a ton of stolen bases, a solid amount of walks and a reputation of being an on-base machine. He doesn't seem like much of a power hitter (career-high 11 home runs in 2024), but the Blue Jays could use a pesky hitter like him a top their lineup now that George Springer doesn't look like a long-term leadoff man anymore.

On defense, Kim has spent the vast majority of his professional career at second base, but he's logged time at shortstop recently and also has time at third base and left field over the course of his career. His fit on the Blue Jays would likely come at second base, but the positional versatility does nothing but make him a more attractive option for Toronto.