Top 5 Pittsburgh Pirates of the 2016 Season

Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
5 of 7
Next

2.  Jung Ho Kang

Kang had some legal issues in 2016 and those have overlooked the great season Kang had in 2016 so I’m not going to get into that.  He got a late start to the season because of the knee injury suffered late in the 2015 season and he started it with a bang, hitting 2 home runs against the Cardinals in his season debut.  Kang would end up with 21 HRs in just 103 games and finished with a better slugging % (.513), ISO (.258), and wRC+ (.133) than he did in his rookie season.  Kang hit a home run every 15.14 at bats which would have been one of the tops in the league if he had enough at bats to qualify.  One part of Kang’s game that fell off a bit in his second season was his defense but that was to be expected after suffering such an ugly injury.  GM Neal Huntington and Manager Clint Hurdle have said Kang could see some time at shortstop in 2017.  If he does then that will likely mean Kang’s knee is fully healthy which will be a great sign for the Pirates both offensively and defensively in 2017.