Jung Ho Kang had interpreter Jeffrey Kim by his side over the weekend as he answered questions from reporters at PiratesFest.
Kang can speak conversational English, picking up the language rather quickly since making his major-league debut with the Pirates in 2015. Yet the South Korea native is understandably skittish about talking to the media in his second language during group interviews.
However, Kang didn’t need to have one question translated.
“Do you want to be the National League Comeback Player of the Year?” I asked him in the media room at PNC Park.
“Oh yeah, yeah, yeah,” Kang said.
A few minutes later, after the formal interview session was over, Kang circled back just to make sure I was clear on his answer.
“Comeback Player of the Year,” he said to me with another smile. “That would be good.”
Kang has put himself in the unfortunate position to win that award thanks to a mixture of poor decision making and injury.
The third baseman missed the entire 2017 season when he was unable to secure a work visa to travel to the United States following his third DUI arrest in South Korea the previous December. He was not cleared to come to the U.S. until last April, then sustained a thumb injury in June that required surgery while working his way back to the majors with Triple-A Indianapolis.
The Pirates brought Kang to the major leagues for the final three games of the 2018 season at Cincinnati. They then re-signed him to a one-year, $3-million contract as a free agent in November.
“This is uncharted territory for us as an organization and for him as a player,” Clint Hurdle said when asked if Kang, at 31, could return to his previous form after missing almost two full seasons.
To his credit, Kang has seemingly done everything necessary to put himself in position to succeed again.
He has transformed his body, going from the pudgy guy who came from South Korea to someone who is now lean and strong. The oldest spring training cliché is about a player being in the best shape of his life, but it will fit when Kang reports to Bradenton, Fla., next month.
Kang spent the first month of this offseason in Pittsburgh then shifted his workouts to Los Angeles, where he has trained with Pirates minor-league catcher Arden Pabst.
Off the field, Kang has made significant changes. He has gone through alcohol rehab, employs a full-time driver and has converted to Christianity. And, very important considering past issues, he has a visa in hand already that will allow him to stay in the country throughout the upcoming season.
It all has Kang feeling he can be a productive major league player again who will be capable of – to use Kim’s translation – “make more slugging hits to help the team in the future.”
“He strongly believes he can have a good season this year,” Kim added.
Kang has successfully navigated uncharted waters before. He became the first native South Korean hitter to make the jump from the Korea Baseball Organization to the major leagues when he signed a four-year, $11 million contract with the Pirates prior to the 2015 season.
This was Hurdle's comments on that when I asked him:
Kang finished third in the NL Rookie of the Year voting in 2015, when he helped the Pirates to their third straight postseason appearance. He batted .287/.355/.461 with 15 home runs in 126 games before sustaining a severe knee injury in mid-September.
Despite getting a late start on the 2016 season because of the lengthy rehab process, Kang hit .255/.354/.513 with 21 homers in 103 games. That gave him a combined 126 OPS+ and 6.5 WAR in his first two seasons.
Kang will have to win back his starting job. Colin Moran was the primary third baseman last season and had a rookie year in which he hit .277/.340/.407 with 11 home runs and a 105 OPS+, though his WAR was just 1.0 because of minus-8 defensive runs saved.
The right-handed hitting Kang and left-handed hitting Moran could also form a platoon at the hot corner.
The Pirates are open to upgrading on the Erik Gonzalez/Kevin Newman duo at shortstop. Kang played the position regularly during his nine-year career in the KBO and made 49 starts at short for the Pirates as a rookie.
However, don’t expect to see Kang manning shortstop in the March 28 opener at Cincinnati. He lost range following the knee surgery and has asked the Pirates to be allowed to concentrate solely on playing third base for now.
“We have to see if he can play, first of all,” Hurdle said. “Let’s get to spring training, see how he looks, see how he performs and then we’ll think about all the other stuff.”