MILWAUKEE -- Jung Ho Kang smoked a baseball 457 feet Sunday, off the giant Miller Lite ad high above Miller Park's center-field batter's eye, and the man barely batted an eyelash upon emerging from the box. Or, for that matter, when I asked him about it after the Pirates' 5-2 loss to the Brewers.
"It was good," he replied through an interpreter.
It actually was. Not only on its own merit but also in that it was a two-run shot that defined the game for the better part of the afternoon:
But when I brought up the following play, in the field an inning later, that one didn't require an interpreter of any kind:
I don't know Korean for 'pickin' it,' but that's how I phrased the question nonetheless, and Kang's smile -- seldom seen for a couple years now -- betrayed he knew precisely what I'd meant before any processing.
"It is comfortable," he'd say through the interpreter. "It's not hard, to play shortstop."
Come on, I admonished, looking right at Kang and challenging him for more.
"I don't know," he'd confess through another smile. "Just a play."
Maybe it was just a play. Kang has a history at shortstop dating to his years in South Korea. But his return to Pittsburgh, complicated on so many levels, was muddied further when Clint Hurdle acknowledged over the offseason that Kang had asked to not play shortstop, that he wanted to focus solely on third base.
Now, things are different. Kang was terrible offensively before being sent to Class AAA Indianapolis on one of those classic bogus-injury assignments. And even after tearing it up there -- 12 for 27 with a home run and three doubles in eight games -- this return evidently was going to have a different feel. Hurdle emphasized Saturday upon Kang's reinstatement that he'd have to "earn his way" back into regular duty, in large part because Colin Moran's hit so well the past three weeks.
As for playing shortstop, it doesn't appear as if Hurdle's asking as much as he's telling. This was his first start there since 2015, and it doesn't sound like it'll be the last.
"He made a couple plays," Hurdle said, referencing another sharp pursuit in the hole that didn't result in an out. "Add to that plastering the ball off the back of the wall out there ... that was a loud swing. He was competing out there today. He looked pretty good."
No need to get ahead of anything, but if Kang can be simply adequate at short -- and his reconstructive knee surgery three years ago still weighs heavily against that -- and his bat can regain form, that offers an option should Kevin Newman cool off. Or even if Newman doesn't.
• Bryan Reynolds. Ball. Player.
Sure, it was a cheesy infield single that skipped off Milwaukee second baseman Hernan Perez's bare hand in the third inning, but his hitting streak's now at 17 games, his on-base streak at 24. One more on the latter count, and he'll match the longest by a franchise rookie since Lee Walls' 25 from May 11-June 8, 1956.
Reynolds singled again later and went 2 for 4, meaning his on-base streak has now seen him bat .388 -- 33 for 85 -- with four home runs, six doubles, a triple, 15 RBIs and a ... uh ... .461 on-base percentage.
But remember this, too, courtesy of this fine sliding catch in left field in the fourth:
The kid can play in the field. New players tend to take time getting adjusted to new stadiums, particularly bigger, domed ones like this. Cole Tucker was telling me the other day it has a "big effect" on your game.
Maybe not for everyone.
• Asked at his session with reporters here before the game if he might address his five-outfielder glut via trade, Neal Huntington didn't exactly reject the notion: “We like all five. But we’re always open to opportunities to make this club better. If something makes sense, then we’ll certainly explore it.”
Translation: Come and get one. But you better have a pitcher in return.
Huntington reiterated that the trade market remains terribly thin at the position, adding that only "marginal upgrades" would be available at "too high a price." But a need's a need. Outfield definitely isn't a need, and pitching definitely is. Keep knocking. When a manager needs a righty in a seventh-inning jam and he's choosing between Richard Rodriguez and Geoff Hartlieb ... yeah, keep knocking.
• I write this a lot, but the most fallacious criticism of Huntington is that he's some spin doctor. He's the absolute antithesis. If anything, he's open, honest, even blunt to a fault, not worrying much how his words will be perceived once they're spoken. That's how he can answer as candidly as he did Sunday on Reynolds, Nick Kingham, five outfielders and all else. He conceded the PR battle a long time ago.
• It was Christian Yelich bobblehead day, and Miller Park was packed to capacity at 45,375, the fifth sellout of the season here. Actually, the Brewers completely cut off sales nearly two weeks ago.
I could go on and on again about the beautiful relationship forged here between this team, its outgoing owner Mark Attanasio, and this market that's two-thirds the size of Pittsburgh. But chances are pretty good that'll be a repeat for most readers.
I also could show his 24th home run, this against Steven Brault in the sixth inning, that brought a roof-shaking roar in here:
Instead, I'll share a small tale about Yelich himself.
This dude is one of Major League Baseball's very best players, he's still only 26 years old, and he's as humble and modest as anyone you'd meet. He's also of Serbian descent, as am I. And anyone who knows a Serb knows that one can never stray too far from the tribe. Not going into detail here, but I spent some time with Yelich this weekend discussing his heritage, how it's connected him to the Serb community here in Wisconsin, his wish to someday visit the homeland, what it means to him, that sort of thing. He asked me as much about mine as I did about his. It was an uplifting, enlightening conversation.
This is why I often get a little edgy when I hear or read people cast professional athletes in a broad, bad light. The overwhelming majority are like this. They really are.
• Longtime readers might appreciate this:
We used to be bros. Now Bernie just blows right by. Maybe it’s the vertigo from all those Milwaukee bombs. #DKPS #Pirates pic.twitter.com/6NeQTvFVC1
— Dejan Kovacevic (@Dejan_Kovacevic) June 9, 2019
Ah, but for the good times.
• I've got a Grind on this game, too. Flying home tonight. Thanks for following along through this whole series.