Pittsburgh Pirates third baseman Jung Ho Kang has received a work visa that will allow him to return to major league baseball.
Remember Jung Ho Kang? He was the shortstop/third baseman the Pittsburgh Pirates signed out of Korea before the 2015 season. He was a bargain-basement addition for a team that is always shopping in the bargain-basement section.
The Pittsburgh Pirates signed Jung Ho Kang to a four-year, $11 million contract, with a club option for a fifth year. At the time, it was unknown whether Kang’s production in Korea would translate well to MLB.
For two years, Jung Ho Kang’s production translated quite well. He was a pivotal contributor to the Pittsburgh Pirates 98-win season in 2015 and continued to hit well in 2016. In two major league seasons, Kang hit .273/.355/.483, good for a 129 wRC+.
That wRC+ means Jung Ho Kang was 29 percent better than average when adjusting for league and ballpark effects. That hitting ability placed Kang 25th in wRC+ among the 200 players who had 800 or more plate appearances during those two seasons.
Then his career was sidetracked by a third DUI conviction in Korea (all since 2009). He was placed on the restricted list and didn’t play at all in 2017 because he wasn’t able to secure a work visa. Pirates GM Neal Huntington didn’t expect Jung Ho Kang to play for the Bucs in 2018, but there is now hope that he will because he’s been granted a work visa and is eligible to return to the U.S.
There is no date yet for when Jung Ho Kang might get back on the field for the Pittsburgh Pirates, but the team released a statement showing their support for Kang. According to Pirates team president Frank Coonelly, the team is “hopeful that having the game he loves taken away from him for more than a year has driven home the reality that he must make better life decisions as we move forward together.”
Jung Ho Kang will complete an agreed-upon treatment program and report to Pirate City in Bradenton, Florida to get in shape. When all of the hurdles have been cleared, he will be reinstated and able to play major league baseball once again.
He’ll join a Pittsburgh Pirates team that got off to a great start to the season but has struggled recently. They’ve won only two of their last seven games and are two games back of the sizzling hot Milwaukee Brewers.
Pirates officially announce Jung Ho Kang set to rejoin organization
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) April 26, 2018
READ: https://t.co/8RTWHwp0O2 pic.twitter.com/R2D7lDYlTq
If Jung Ho Kang can resemble the hitter he was two years ago, he’ll be a nice addition to the Pittsburgh Pirates lineup. His primary position in 2016 was third base, which is currently the domain of Colin Moran, who’s hitting .294/.355/.441 (115 wRC+).
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Colin Moran has been one of the more productive hitters on the team, so his bat will remain in the lineup against right-handed pitchers (he rarely faces lefties).
This means Jung Ho Kang will likely get some time at third base and some time at first base. He’s a younger, better version of David Freese.
Josh Bell is the Pirates’ primary first baseman, but he’s struggling this year to hit for any sort of power (.359 slugging percentage, 88 wRC+).
Josh Bell had a superficially good year last year when he tied the Pittsburgh Pirates rookie record with 26 home runs.
Despite all those homers, Josh Bell was barely above replacement level (0.6 fWAR). Jung Ho Kang should take some playing time from both Moran and Bell (and Freeze).
As good as he was during his first two seasons in the ‘Burgh, Jung Ho Kang has missed an entire year-plus of baseball. It may take him a while to get back in game shape and calibrated to major league pitching.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are off to a surprisingly nice start at 14-11 through Thursday’s games, but there are seven other NL teams with 14 wins or more.
Next: Pirates top 10 prospects for 2018
As good as the Pittsburgh Pirates been so far, their playoff chances have dropped by a half-percent since the beginning of the season, mainly because more than a few other teams are doing surprisingly well (Phillies and Braves, for example).