KBO’s Jung-Ho Kang to be posted by Nexen Heroes
Lately we have been hearing about all the new Cuban players coming into the league, but with the seasons ending soon for the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) and Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) coming to an end on November 1, we are going to start hearing about players being posted to play in Major League Baseball.
The first major player to emerge as a potential “next big thing” in MLB is from the KBO. He’s a power-hitting shortstop, named Jung-Ho Kang, who hit 38 home runs during the 2014 season for the Nexen Heroes. He put up a slashline of .360/.463/.746 in 107 games, also hitting 33 doubles and driving in 107 runs.
He will be posted in November by the Heroes under the old posting system. Prior to the 2014 season, Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball came to a new posting agreement. Under the new agreement more teams are allowed to negotiate with the posted player because there is a cap of $20 million for a team to have the right to bid on a player.
Under the old posting system, the one that is still and has been in place with the KBO since 2001, each team interested in potentially signing the player is allowed to bid as much as they want to be able to negotiate with that player. The team with the highest bid has exclusive negotiating rights with the player. The new system offers more parity but in this case the old system remains in place.
Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe was the first to report the posting that will apparently happen next month once the Nexen Heroes have officially completed their season.
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According to Cafardo some scouts are skeptical that Kang’s numbers will translate over to Major League Baseball which does happen sometimes with players coming out of the KBO and NPB, especially his defensive numbers at shortstop. It seems to be more of the consensus that he would be better suited to play at second or third base instead of shortstop.
Some scouts also have an issues with the “leg kick in his stance that is very pronounced and lasts deep into his swing,” writes Cafardo, believing that his bat will not be as productive against Major League pitching.
Still, with the extremely small pool of free agents at shortstop this season and the large number of teams looking to fill holes in their infield such as the New York Yankees (who need to replace Derek Jeter), New York Mets, Oakland Athletics, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres and Detroit Tigers, Kang could end up being quite the hot commodity in Major League Baseball.
2014 was a career year for Kang, who debuted in the Korean Baseball Organization in 2006 with the Hyundai Unicorns at the age of 19. In 2008 he moved over to the Heroes, who at the time were called the Woori Heroes but were later renamed the Nexen Heroes.
Kang’s previous highest career season mark for home runs was 25 in 2012, playing in 124 of the league’s 133 games. This stat makes the scout’s skepticism even more understandable. Still, over his nine seasons in the KBO, Kang has a career slashline of .298/.382/.503 which is quite good.
Given the need for infielders and lack of them on the market this offseason it is likely that Kang will end up with a sizable contract. For now we’ll have to wait until November to find out.