Neal Huntington is playing coy with Jung Ho Kang’s rehab, but all signs point to being ahead of schedule.
While the Pittsburgh Pirates front office staff is reportedly talking to multiple teams during baseball’s Winter Meetings this week in Nashville, the one thing they’re not saying much about is the progress of Korean infielder Jung Ho Kang’s recovery from a season-ending knee injury.
Pirates GM Neal Huntington told media last night that Kang, who had surgery in September to repair a tibial plateau fracture and an injury to the lateral meniscus after the Cubs’ Chris Coughlan’s takeout slide on September 17, is progressing in his recovery, “Checking all the boxes” and will begin full weight-bearing activity soon. This is essentially the same thing that Huntington said about Kang during the General Manager’s Meetings in November.
That the Pirates are approaching Kang’s rehab with an abundance of caution makes sense. The injury is said to take a full six to eight months to heal and rehab fully –meaning Kang could start the first game of his second year in major league baseball in March or May. The last thing anyone wants is to start him too soon and risk re-injuring the leg or causing lasting damage that could eventually dull Kang’s superstar potential.
But Kang himself is telling a slightly different story about how his rehab is progressing.
In late September, he posted this image of himself on the campus at Allegheny General Hospital, in a hospital gown, leg fully wrapped and immobilized and wheelchair bound on Instagram:
//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.jsThen at the end of October, Instagram finds him enjoying a beverage outside of Constellation Coffee near his Lawrenceville apartment, crutches set off to the side.
A photo posted by PittsburghPirates KangJungHo⚾️ (@sdew0405) on Oct 25, 2015 at 6:12pm PDT
//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js
Mid-November he’s captured in a photo walking in the Strip District, seemingly with his weight fully on his left leg. An Instagram video he posted presumably later that day shows him planting that same left leg and throwing a baseball, very artfully captured in slow-motion.
And two weeks ago he posted a video of himself in a rehab/training setting moving laterally and taking grounders:
//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js
This isn’t to say that Kang is by any means ready to hit the field and play right now, and being able to stroll along the streets of Pittsburgh, or climb stairs and slide down a waterslide, are not nearly as stressful on joints and muscles as the stop and go, running, twisting and turning required of a major leaguer – but it shows steady progress beyond Huntington’s description to media about Kang’s status. Some will read into this a sub-plot based on the status of second baseman Neil Walker’s contract, but Huntington has flatly denied that Kang’s recovery and Walker’s status as a Pirate are in any way connected, citing both Josh Harrison’s and Jordy Mercer’s flexibility in the infield as part of the reason.
Huntington added that Kang is now in Bradenton continuing his rehab at the Pirates’ Spring Training facility, Pirate City. Does this mean fans will see him on the field on Opening Day? Only time will tell.
To monitor Kang’s progress, follow him on Instagram: @sdew0405
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