Pittsburgh Pirates may get Jung Ho Kang back, but will it matter?
Jung Ho Kang is about to start a minor league assignment, but will he be able to help the sinking Pirates get out of their slump?
It wasn’t that long ago that the Pittsburgh Pirates were one of baseball’s best stories. They started the year 26-17 and were in first place through May 17. This was after trading top starting pitcher Gerrit Cole and longtime fan favorite Andrew McCutchen in the offseason.
Since then, the Pirates have gone 3-10 and just had one of their worst losses of the season on Thursday in St. Louis. The Pirates fell behind in the first inning, 4-0, but battled back tie the game at four in the top of the fifth. The went ahead on a three-run homer by Francisco Cervelli in the top of the eighth, then closer Felipe Vazquez gave up five runs in the bottom of the ninth (with the help of an error by Sean Rodriguez). Game over. The big blow was a game-winning three-run homer by Yairo Munoz.
The Pirates have now fallen to fourth place and 6.5 games back in the NL Central. They are three back in the wild card race. Before today’s ugly loss, the Pirates had a 16 percent chance to make the playoffs, according to the Fangraphs Postseason Odds page. Only four NL teams had a lower chance and they include the bottom-feeding Miami Marlins (.364 winning percentage) and Cincinnati Reds (.351), along with the below-.500 San Francisco Giants (.464) and San Diego Padres (.421).
Before their recent 3-10 stretch, the Pirates had a 30.7 percent chance to make the playoffs, which put them seventh in the NL, but not far behind the three wild card contenders ahead of them. Like Ferris Bueller said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” The way they’re playing right now, the Pirates are missing it.
With the Pirates’ ship taking on water, now comes the possibility of Jung Ho Kang returning to the ‘Burgh. The question is, will he make a difference? Kang missed the entire 2017 season and the first third of this season after a third DUI conviction in Korea. That made him unable to obtain a work visa in the U.S. and he was placed on the MLB Restricted List, where he remains today.
Despite being on the Restricted List, Kang is back in the U.S. and hoping to restart his major league career. He’ll make his first step toward that goal with a minor league assignment with Class-A Bradenton. The last time he played professionally was in the Dominican Winter League this offseason. He did not do well, hitting an ugly .143/.219/.202 and striking out 32 percent of the time.
Kang’s legal troubles sidetracked what had been a very promising start with the Pirates. He was a 3.7-WAR player in 2015, his first season in Pittsburgh, then a 2.1-WAR player in 103 games in 2016. In July of 2016, a 23-year-old woman in Chicago claimed Kang sexually assaulted her, but no charges were filed when she later declined to cooperate with the police investigation. That off-field transgression was just a precursor to his DUI conviction five months later.
Now that he’s back and about to play in the minor leagues, what can Pirates fans expect from Kang? It’s hard to say. He’s 31 years old and has missed more than a year. The Depth Chart projections at Fangraphs still see Kang as an above average hitter (.263/.344/.462, 112 wRC+, meaning 12 percent better than average on offense after league and ballpark effects), but projected stats for an over-30 player who missed a season are not something you want to count on.
Also, while getting a productive hitter in the lineup is always nice, the Pirates have bigger problems on the other side of the ball. They are eighth in baseball in runs scored (and tenth in wRC+), but 16th in ERA. Closer Felipe Vazquez just had his fourth blown save in 14 chances. Last year, he had two blown saves in 23 chances. His ERA is up to 4.43. His strikeout rate is down, his walk rate is up, and his fastball has lost about 1.5 mph from last season. Jung Ho Kang won’t fix that.
Finding a place for Kang in the Pirates lineup should be interesting. That is, if he proves himself worthy of a recall to the major leagues. Kang played shortstop and third base back in 2015, but was exclusively a third baseman in 2016. The Pirates are getting good production from 25-year-old Colin Moran (113 wRC+) at third base. He’s the future at the position.
Live Feed class=inline-text id=inline-text-15
House That Hank Built
Moran has been starting primarily against right-handed pitchers, with David Freese playing against lefties. If anything, Kang would become the right-handed half of a platoon at third base and Freese would get more playing time at first base. It should be noted that Kang has a reverse platoon split in his two-year career. He’s hit better against right-handed pitchers (135 wRC+) than against lefties (107 wRC+).
That being said, because most right-handed hitters have the opposite split, it’s likely that Kang’s splits will trend in the more common direction. Two partial seasons isn’t enough to know for sure that Kang truly has reverse-split tendencies. He’s likely to hit lefties better than righties going forward, like most right-handed hitters do.
Another option for Kang could be second base, even though he hasn’t played there in the big leagues. Josh Harrison is the team’s primary second baseman, but the penny-pinching Pirates probably wouldn’t mind shedding the rest of the $10.25 million he’s owed for this year if they can. He’s the second-highest paid player on the team, after catcher Francisco Cervelli, and a prime trade candidate.
Should Kang do well enough in the minor leagues to earn a call-up, he’ll have to be on his best behavior. Back in April, GM Neal Huntington said on his weekly radio show with Joe Block that Kang is likely on his last chance with the team. No more off-field issues will be tolerated.
Next: Pirates top 10 prospects for 2018
Kang is due to make a pro-rated portion of his $3 million salary if he re-joins the Pirates, with a $5.5 million team option for next year. Even that might be too much for the Pirates. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Kang or Harrison (or both?) get traded if Kang comes up and does well.