Jung Ho Kang Receives Suspended Prison Sentence

The Pittsburgh Pirates got news regarding their third baseman on Thursday night

The saga that has been Jung Ho Kang‘s offseason is one step closer to being over. That is due to his sentence hearing for his third DUI being on Thursday (Friday in South Korea). Now, the Pirates and Kang know his sentence is.

Jung Ho Kang has received a suspended eight month prison sentence. This means Kang will have the opportunity to stay out of prison with good behavior. If he does not get in any legal trouble in the next two years, he will not have to serve his sentence.

Additionally, Kang is now eligible to join the Pirates at any time in Bradenton. This should happen at some point in the next week. Kang will first have to get his work Visa renewed and any hurdles there cleared.

Since coming to Pittsburgh for the 2015 season, Jung Ho Kang has become one of the Pirates’ best players. This includes becoming the team’s biggest power threat at the plate and one of the team’s best run producers.

In 837 career plate appearances, 229 games played, Kang owns a .362 wOBA, 131 wRC+, .210 ISO, a .355 on-base percentage, and a WAR of 6.2. He has also been a strong defensive third baseman in his career, posting a +2 career DRS.

In his Major League career he has averaged a home run once every 23.3 plate appearances. That puts him on pace to hit 30+ home runs over the course of a full Major League season, which Kang still has yet to do due to his knee injury in September of 2015 that spilled over into 2016.

Due to lack of reps in Spring Training, it is possible that Kang will miss Opening Day. If that were to happen then David Freese would almost assuredly open the season as the starting third baseman. However, even if Kang misses Opening Day I would still expect his 2017 debut to come in early-to-mid April.

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Kang should be a big part of the Pirate lineup in 2017. I look for him to be the team’s clean up hitter in 2017, as well as their best power threat.

While Jung Ho Kang could still be suspended by Major League Baseball or the Pirates, I do not expect this to happen. Not only have players done far worse and not been suspended, but also the Player’s Association would make it one hell of a legal battle. Look for Jung Ho Kang to be a big part of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2017.