WATCH: Ex-Padre Eric Hosmer mimics Ha-Seong Kim 'crushing cigarettes' in clubhouse during MLB season

In 2021, a 25-year-old Ha-Seong Kim made his MLB debut for the San Diego Padres. While rookie stress is a normal occurrence for all of the league's new arrivals, the South Korean infielder had an unusual way of dealing with it.

In a recent installment of his podcast, "Diggin' Deep," former Padres first baseman Eric Hosmer reflected on playing with Kim during the latter's rookie campaign. According to Hosmer, Kim would often turn to cigarettes to help manage the stress, a habit that would sometimes be carried out in the team's clubhouse. See the video below:

"Ha-Seong Kim crushing cigarettes in the clubhouse during games. (via @DigginDeepPod)" - Talkin' Friars

Hosmer went on to say that early in the 2022 season, Ha-Seong Kim had told his San Diego Padres teammates that he had quit smoking. However, that claim soon came under contention when Hosmer caught Kim smoking on the second day of the season.

The former first baseman claimed that smoking is used by several Japanese and Korean players to manage stress, although their contracts stipulate that all smoking must be done in private. In 2013, for example, then-Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Hyun-jin Ryu and his purported smoking habits.

Eric Hosmer was traded to the Boston Red Sox later that season and it is not clear whether Kim has managed to give up smoking.

"Ha-Seong Kim makes it 9-0 Padres in the second inning!" - Talkin' Baseball

In 2023, Kim put forth a career season. After hitting just .235/.306/.372 with 19 home runs over his first two seasons, the Korean broke out, hitting .260/.325/.383 with 17 home runs.

Ha-Seong Kim eyes healthier habits amid defensive slump

A Gold Glove winner last season, Kim has raised eyebrows with some of his defensive play this season, making six errors in 22 chances between April 9 and 15. However, despite the rusty start, the 28-year-old remains unphased, telling the San Diego Union-Tribune:

"Although I have some errors under my belt, I’m not worried about it at all. I’m confident that I’ll still have very (good) defensive statistics at the end of the season. I’m pretty confident.”

It will be interesting to see if this is the case.