Kang’s injured leg on the mend
BRADENTON, Fla. 鈥� Jung Ho Kang蘑菇视频 English is improving in his second year in the United States and he has gained great command of at least one word.
鈥淕ood,鈥� the Pittsburgh third baseman said when asked about his health before a spring training workout. 鈥淕ood. Real good.鈥�
By all accounts, Kang is making a seamless recovery from the broken left leg and torn knee ligaments that prematurely ended his superb 2015 rookie season.
Playing shortstop, Kang was injured in a second base collision when the Chicago Cubs鈥� Chris Coughlan slid into him while attempting to break up a double play in mid-September. Kang wound up hitting .287 with 15 home runs and an .816 OPS in 126 games and 467 plate appearances as he became the first native South Korean positon player to make to the transition to the major leagues from the Korean Baseball Organization.
Kang finished third in the National League Rookie of the Year voting behind Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant and San Francisco Giants third baseman Matt Duffy.
Kang is slated to be the Pirates鈥� third baseman this upcoming season once he is healthy. If all goes well, he will be back by the April 3 opener against the St. Louis Cardinals at PNC Park, though the Pirates are not setting a timetable because they do not Kang to possibly overextend himself in an attempt to rush back.
If Kang starts the season on the disabled list, the Pirates will need a second baseman because Josh Harrison will be asked to fill in at third base. Harrison is expected to eventually settle in at second following the offseason trade of Neil Walker to the New York Mets.
The Pirates have a number of players who could fill in temporarily at the keystone, including Alen Hanson, Pedro Florimon, Sean Rodriguez, Gift Ngoepe and Cole Figueroa.
There is an argument to be made for all five, but, of course, there are only 25 spots on the roster. The Pirates need someone who can at least hold his own both offensively and defensively until Kang rejoins the lineup, especially since Walker ably held down second base since a third of the way into the 2010 season.
Case for Hanson:
The athletic Hanson has been long considered one of the Pirates鈥� top prospects and also one of the top 100 prospects in baseball. However, his stock dropped a bit last season in his first full year at the Class AAA level as he hit .263 with six home runs and 35 stolen bases in 117 games and 529 plate appearances for Indianapolis.
Hanson, 23, converted to second base from shortstop in 2014 and is considered a potentially plus-defender at the position. He also would also add an element of a speed to a lineup that will look more toward manufacturing runs after taking a hit in the power department over the winter with the trade of Walker and the decision to non-tender first baseman Pedro Alvarez.
In a perfect world, though, the Pirates would prefer Hanson return to Indianapolis to continue to work on his hitting and defense.
Case for Florimon:
Florimon, 29, hit just .087 in 24 games and 25 plate appearances with the Pirates last season and his .245 average in 223 trips to plate with Indianapolis wasn鈥檛 impressive. He is a better than average defender, though, and putting a switch-hitter into a lineup heavy with right-handed batters wouldn鈥檛 hurt.
The journeyman has also been a starter in the past, serving as the Minnesota Twins鈥� primary shortstop in 2013.
Case for Rodriguez:
Rodriguez has logged more playing time at second base than any other position during his eight major leagues seasons and is a plus-defender with some pop in his bat. He hit .246 with four homers in a career-high 139 games and 240 plate appearances in his first season with the Pirates in 2015, a year after belting 12 homers for the Tampa Bay Rays.
However, manager Clint Hurdle will also want to use Rodriguez for late-game defensive purposes at first base where the Pirates plan to platoon John Jaso, a novice at the position, with iron-gloved Michael Morse.
Case for Ngeope:
Ngeope is considered the best defensive infielder in the Pirates鈥� farm system and they placed him on the 40-man roster in November because they feared he would be selected in the Rule 5 Draft and make someone蘑菇视频 team as a utility infielder.
Ngeope, a 26-year-old native of South Africa, would become the first African to reach the major leagues if he makes the opening day roster. He has spent seven seasons in the minor leagues and steadily improved, hitting a combined .257 with three home runs last year in 92 games and 351 plate appearances with Class AA Altoona and Indianapolis before sitting out the last six weeks with a strained oblique muscle.
Case for Figueroa:
Pirates general manager Neal Huntington went out of his way to mention Figueroa on more than one occasion after singing the 28-year-old as a minor league free agent on Dec. 3.
Figueroa has seen limited major league action with Tampa Bay and the New York Yankees the last two seasons. He spent the majority of 2015 with the Yankees鈥� Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre farm club, hitting .292 with three homers in 121 games and 507 plate appearances.