ATLANTA — Braves manager Walt Weiss knows exactly what Ha-Seong Kim is capable of when he’s at his best.“If we get him back to playing the way we know he can, it makes us better as a team,” Weiss said.With Kim opening the season in a prolonged slump, going 5-for-52 at the plate, and the Braves owning the best record in baseball at 45-21, opportunities have been difficult to come by.For now, Atlanta’s priority has been simple: Keep its hottest and most productive players in the lineup.As a result, Kim has found himself in a reduced role while working to regain the form that made him such a valuable contributor in prior seasons. On a club chasing wins every night, playing time has become something that must be earned rather than guaranteed — even if Kim is making $20 million this season.“Sometimes, these decisions aren’t easy,” Weiss said. “When you’ve got a guy like Kim, who’s been a really good player in this league, and he’s trying to find his way, you try to walk that fine line of trying to get him back up to speed, and at the same time you’re trying to win games.”Last week, Weiss opted to play Mauricio Dubón at shortstop in three consecutive games. Dubón rewarded that decision by going deep in each of those games, the first three-game home-run streak in his career.During a late-May trip through Boston and Cincinnati, Kim sat out three straight games while Jorge Mateo played shortstop and homered in back-to-back games. During that stretch, the Braves had Kim focus on his timing and swing in the cages. They felt it allowed him to work on his craft without feeling pressured to perform immediately in games.Kim has not had a spring training in back-to-back seasons. In 2025 with the Tampa Bay Rays, he was sidelined until July 4 as he recovered from shoulder surgery, and he didn’t heat up until the Braves claimed him in September.