Pittsburgh Pirates Likely to Activate INF Jung Ho Kang

Jung Ho Kang is likely to be activated from the DL today after completing his rehab stint at Triple-A Indianapolis

Pirates third baseman Jung Ho Kang appears to have completed his long road of recovery since a major knee injury on a Chris Coghlan slide ended his stellar rookie campaign. The team has not made any official announcement, but Rob Biertempfel of the Tribune Review reported that Kang traveled to St. Louis with the club. With Jason Rogers being optioned to Indianapolis yesterday, it is clear to see that the Pirates intend to activate Kang.

Kang was sent to the Indians on April 18 after some additional workouts at Pirates City in Bradenton. The 29 year old South Korean product went 6-for-40 at the Triple-A level, with five RBI, including this home run against the Durham Bulls.

At times, Kang’s timing looked considerably off, which was to be expected after a long layoff. Despite participating in team drills, Kang did not see any plate appearances in spring training. In looking at Kang’s plate appearances during the rehab stint, a clear trend of patience became clear. The third baseman did not chase many pitches, and many of his strikeouts came of the swing-and-miss variety, again due to timing.

With Kang’s return, thoughts now turn to where he might fit in this revamped Pirates lineup. Naturally thought to hit somewhere behind Andrew McCutchen, Kang can seemingly slide in anywhere in the middle third of the batting order with ease. With David Freese in tow, manager Clint Hurdle may opt to sit Kang against left-handed pitching. While he was certainly a capable hitter against southpaws, the second-year player slashed .238/.340/.381 against them with a 28.4 percent strikeout rate while Freese bats .300 with an OPS of .868 against lefties for his career.

Kang Batting Statistics  by Batting Position

In this first year of North American baseball, Jung Ho Kang took his lumps at the plate before hitting his stride in the mid-summer. Despite carrying a 24.3 percent strikeout rate for the year, Kang had lowered that to just under 21 percent when injury struck, showing good improvement that could only come once he received regular at-bats. After being forced to hit a virtual ‘reset’ button due to the injury, Kang’s early production in this return will be intriguing.

General manager Neal Huntington has already indicated repeatedly that Kang will not play a position other than third base this year, presumably to reduce any risk of re-injuring the knee at a position that requires more lateral movement. Freese has been the incumbent everyday third baseman upon his arrival, but recently moonlighted at second base. Of course, pre-season comments by Huntington also indicated that  Freese would platoon with John Jaso at first base, a statement which now seems to be a certainy with Jason Rogers being optioned down to make room for Kang. If the Pirates feel the need for an offense-heavy lineup, they can keep both Freese and Kang in the lineup due to his versatility.

Going into the 2016 season, many fans and observers were wondering how this Pirates run-production attack would work without one of its major cogs. The team has answered the bell in that regard, and now the club will see another challenge in finding ways to work Jung Ho Kang back in.

Kang’s Complete 2015 Statistics

Pirates Breakdown will have more coverage on Jung Ho Kang’s return in the coming days.