Jung Ho Kang Reportedly Denied Work Visa
According to a Naver Sports report out of South Korea, Pirates third baseman Jung Ho Kang has been denied a visa to enter the United States putting his 2017 season and future with the Pirates very much in doubt.
Kang has had a myriad off-the-field troubles. After a Dec. 2 incident in Seoul in which Kang fled the scene of a crash, Kang was convicted of a third DUI this winter in South Korea. The two previous DUIs came before he was signed by the Pirates prior to the 2015 season, and the club claims to have had no knowledge of those incidents. For his most recent DUI, Kang was sentenced to eight months in prison, but Kang has appealed the sentence. He has missed the entire spring due to his legal issues. There was also a sexual assault claim made against Kang last year, alleged to have occurred in a Chicago hotel. But Kang was not charged and Chicago Police said last fall they have not been able to locate his accuser.
Off-the-field, Kang has his troubles and now the Pirates have on-the-field issues at third base.
When they rolled the dice on signing Kang two years ago, there were questions about his ability translate his KBO production and, in particular, his ability to hit major league velocity. As Jeff Sullivan noted last summer, Kang passed the fastball test. And his production translated quite well as he owns a .273/.355/.483 slash line and 131 wRC+ over 229 games. After a serious leg and knee injury suffered after Chris Coghlan slid into him aggressively in September of 2015, Kang answered questions about his health and about to counter-punch against league adjustments with a 133 wRC+ in 2016. He put to rest any doubts about his power with an .258 isolated power mark last season.
Kang also proved to be a capable defender at third base, rating slightly above average, and he even played some shortstop for the Pirates in 2015. In total, Kang produced 3.9 WAR in an injury-shorted 126 and another 2.2 WAR in 103 games last season.
Since the start of the 2015 season, only Starling Marte (7.5 WAR) and Andrew McCutchen (6.5) have been more valuable position players for the Pirates, and on a per-game basis Kang has been the club’s most valuable position player. Now, it looks like he might not be available. The Pirates might be without their top position player.
According to FanGraphs’ depth charts, Kang was projected to produce 2.4 WAR, the third-highest total on the club, over 455 plate appearance. Ranking second on the depth chart at third base is David Freese, who the club signed in March last year as Freese found himself as part of that shrinking middle class of veteran player that has more often struggled to find work. The Pirates signed the 33-year-old to a two-year extension in the middle of last season, perhaps in part due to the uncertainty surrounding Kang.
The issue for the Pirates is FanGraphs’ projection calls for Freese to produce 0.9 WAR in 510 plate appearances this season, forecasting a 98 wRC+ and a .256/.329/.395 slash line. It’s a significant drop-off in production. If forecasting 600 plate appearance production from Kang, it’s a two-win drop off for a team FanGraphs projects to finish with with 82 wins, four games worse than the Mets for the second wild card. Kang’s absence further complicates the club’s wild card picture, which figures to be its most likely entryway to the postseason with the Cubs being the reigning division and World Series champions.
When the Pirates signed Freese to the two-year extension, he was coming off an excellent first half, OPSing .845 last season. However, Freese slumped in the second half, posting a .650 OPS. Freese makes plenty of hard contact enjoying a 21.7% HR/FB ratio last year and a 14.8% mark for his career. But Freese has also been an extreme ground-ball hitter for his career, owning a 2.1 GB/FB ratio, including a career-high 2.98 GB/FB mark last season.
Freese might benefit from getting on the Josh Donaldson swing plan. Pirates manager Clint Hurdle noted this spring that players’ “OPS is in the air.” But Freese does not seem to be interested in over-hauling his swing.
Freese, with his current skill-set, might be a nice short-term insurance policy but he cannot replace star-level production.
The Pirates have other internal options for third base. They could move Josh Harrison to third, keep Freese in a platoon role where they feel he could better maintain his swing over the course of a season, and give promising left-handed hitter Adam Frazier full-time work at second base. But if Kang is not available, however the Pirates choose to juggle their roster pieces, there figures to be a significant loss of production. While the Pirates have an insurance policy in place in Freese, there is usually no plan, no way, to replace star-level production.
A Cleveland native, FanGraphs writer Travis Sawchik is the author of the New York Times bestselling book, Big Data Baseball. He also contributes to The Athletic Cleveland, and has written for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, among other outlets. Follow him on Twitter @Travis_Sawchik.
Should have chose MasterCard
He also had American Express, but nobody would take it.
Fry: Do you take Visa?
Clerk: Visa hasn’t existed for 500 years.
Fry: American Express?
Clerk: 600 years.
Fry: Discover Card?
Clerk: Sorry, we don’t take Discover.
love that show
Makes sense that State Dept has rejected his visa application. DUI is grounds for revoking an already-issued visa and in that case it takes a certification by a physician. And those rules are based on 2 DUI’s in the last 10 years – so there may be additional ‘problems’ with his original visa application.
Don’t know how long a physician-based assessment/rehab program takes but I suspect it ain’t just pro forma.
A link from State Dept itself on the general DUI issue – http://bit.ly/2nwoHHP
And purportedly a dashcam video of his crash/aftermath from Korean TV (via Sporting News) – http://bit.ly/2mzZME4
I don’t understand Korean so don’t take this as anything more substantive than a link I found while googling
“…so don’t take this as anything more substantive than a link I found while googling”
I think a certain head of state could use this disclosure on most of his communications…
I came here to get away from the constant criticism of Joan Enric Vives i Sicília.
Well they do have his picture behind the news casters so unless the news themselves fucked up (this category of story is pretty hard to fuck up) that’s it all right
A buddy of mine in Daegu in the mid 00s got very drunk and drove home. The week before he had driven into a bongo truck and bashed the front of this car.. also drunk. When he was driving home, his hood flipped up unto his windscreen so he had to look out his window to drive to the side of the road… where there were several cops breathalyzing people. So he got caught, obviously. He blew over. They asked him if he drank beer or soju. He said beer. They put him in a cell for a few hours, gave him water and then made him blow again in the morning. He blew under. They let him go home without a charge.
I also know a girl who drove into the front of a pizza shop while drunk and was found sleeping in her car. She lost her license but was not criminally charged to my knowledge.
My point is.. if he got charged with DUIs in Korea as a pro baseball player, then he is out of control and probably got caught umpteen times before as well. Either that or Korea has massively improved on this issue in the last 5 years or so. Which IS possible cos that country moves fast.
Your point is that you know of two people involved with drinking and driving in S Korea and you have your hand on the pulse of the country?
I lived there for 10 years. Those are the two most egregious. I know of at least 30 separate incidents of just people who knew me well enough to tell me personally – that they got away with drink driving after blowing over. Some of those were the same person twice or three times.
I was also friends with a cop, who told me that it was by no means everyone who got caught drink driving, that got charged. They often let people go.
Edit: Sure that is all anecdotal. But, I would say I very much did have the pulse of the nation and I would be very surprised if anyone who lived in South Korea and witnessed the intense drink/work culture first hand.. would contradict what I said.
Ok, that makes more sense
My son-in-law was stationed in Korea for a number of years, and the stories he told me would completely back up what jmomcc has said. Again, only anecdotal… but I believe if you are labeled as a drunk driving problem in Korea… you have a very serious problem.
No problem, man. It makes absolute sense, especially on this site, to point out how worthless anecdotes are. Even, my ten years’ experience might not tell you much. I only lived in two provincial cities. It could be completely different where Kang played or I could just know a weird subset of people.. or just people who think it is cool to brag about that kind of stuff. Lot’s of possibilities and it’s always good to question stuff.
“At least 30” So, conservatively, let’s say you were told on 50 separate occasions of a drunk driving episode.
Not sure that’s the pulse of the entire country as much as it is the kind of people you know.
Haha. I don’t know why you are getting downvoted for that. You make a good point.
I did know a lot of pretty reckless people. I’m also ashamed to say that I rode in a drunk driver’s car on a lot of occasions. I actually witnessed one of those occasions where my friend blew over.
I don’t condone that behavior any longer. I never drove drunk myself but it is almost as bad to be a willing passenger and enable it.
Another friend of mine got in a serious accident that wasn’t his fault (the other guy ran a red light) but he still almost died and he would have lost his license and job if they had tested HIS blood alcohol level. They didn’t as they were too busy saving his life I guess. He was very lucky and it made me do some deep thinking.
I lived in Korea for only one year (1997), but I will confirm that 1) it is a seriously hard-drinking culture (also a workaholic one, as jmomcc says), and that 2) cops tend to take a no-harm no-foul approach to most things (for which I am eternally grateful).
Three DUIs is a really bad sign.
A DUI conviction can make you ineligible for entry into Canada also. This has come up several times with hockey players crossing the border for road games, and I believe a couple of times for MLB players as well (Jason Werth? Richie Sexson? My memory fails). This is relevant because the Pirates play a series in Toronto August 11 – 13, so even if the Pirates get Kang’s issues sorted for playing in the US they still will have more work to do (or just elect to leave him at home, though ditching a position player for a series in a DH park is not exactly desirable).
Werth was reckless [100+ MPH] but sober, I think.
.
Celebrities get away with murder because of their talent.
Did you know that Jay Z once tried to murder someone? Mark Wahlberg has committed hate crimes. Sean Penn beat his wife over the head with a baseball bat. I can go on and on
I was just pointing out how Harper is linked to a terrorist group in America and I want to see a fangraphs pie chart about that.
He said that Harper was linked to terrorist groups in the United States and I would like to see a picture of Fangraphs cake on it.
Serbian to Vietnamese to French is on his back. (which is “the norm” for him)
Keep working, it might be funny someday…
you might need to make another another other account though
“Keep working, it might be funny someday…”
The irony…
*Awaits terribly predictable cry fest*
Looks like Trump is following through on his promise to bring jobs back to Americans after all. Who knew?
Soju telling me there’s a chance …
If i’m the Pirates, I’m handing Jaso his 3b mitt and making him take grounders there for the next few weeks.
He has an .800 OPS vs righties in his career. Freese has an .840 OPS vs lefties in his career. They’d basically be Anthony Rendon but with bad defense. Which is still pretty good.
The best chance the Pirates have at producing 3 WAR at 3b (sans Kang) is giving Jaso a chance to learn the position.
It so funny what is considered good or bad behavior these days.
I mean Bryce Harper is part of a cult that manipulates and terrorizes kids and families (Latter Day Saints) but nobody cares about that.
They are listed on this country’s domestic terrorist list with some of these others:
Nation of Islam
Ku Klux Klan
Al Qaeda
Muslim Brotherhood
Sunni Muslims
…and I could keep going but hey he wants to make baseball fun again.
Utah, hotbed of terror
you can joke all you want but it is a serious issue, much more serious than a DUI.
http://www.exmormonfoundation.org/stories.html
Mmm, unbiased, reputable sources.
Oh wait you’re one of them!!
“Yo, this motherfucker ain’t one of us. He said he’d fuck a sheep!”
“They are listed on this country’s domestic terrorist list”
Citation badly, badly needed
JUICEMANE doen’t let facts get in his way of making arguments. He just tries to insult anyone who calls him out on his bs.
I don’t remember rattling my zipper Vic
It amazes me how completely oblivious people are about their own country. There is a list of domestic terrorism organizations and everyone should know about and I feel sorry for you if you don’t. You see, they created this thing called Homeland Security….oh forget it
Why don’t you post the list and prove that it’s not just a figment of your imagination?
Yeah, how did we ever manage before Fatherland Security?
Ah so you don’t have any actual proof to back up your words. What a great way to be taken seriously!
Are they as bad as scientology?
Honestly, good. I hope that’s a wake up call for him. Addiction is one thing, but repeated drunk driving can absolutely be disciplined out of you.
I wonder if this will put them in the market for Brian Dozier.
Why would it?
Because Clayton Kershaw is already signed.
I can’t imagine they would offer anything the Twins would take seriously. The Pirates love years of control. Barring an injury to the “right” team, he’s going to be a Twin for the year.
I think if they lose kang it might tip the scale toward a rebuild. They were already a little in between before the kang problems but if they lose him I think they would be better served keeping their prospects and sell off the remaining veterans to build a monster farm.
The other option would be to trade the prospects for guy like quintana but they were only playing for a WC anyway and with another 3 wins or so gone the ask would be even tougher.
They could of course do a big trade for quintana and Frazier but that would basically mean all of their farm is gone (certainly Meadows, glasnow and bell or keller).
I actually thought this was the way they were going, but they’ve pumped the brakes so far. Still, I bet if McCutchen gets off to a hot start but the team doesn’t they try and trade him.
“The two previous DUIs came before he was signed by the Pirates prior to the 2015 season, and the club claims to have had no knowledge of those incidents.”
Yeah, not buying that they had no knowledge.
I’m glad he was denied. No coddling this behavior.
Just my opinion, but – I find it refreshing that a talented athlete in the prime of his career is actually suffering some ramifications due to his awful behavior for once. Normally it seems like the powers-that-be just make vague sounds of disapproval, but keep rehiring the guy until he gets old and his production drops.
Admittedly it’s the government, not the team, who’s doing this… but still.
Lets think about this, the US Embassy denied his visa and the Cubs owners brother is an Ambassador and personal friend of you know who. So ambassador Ricketts told the ambassador in Seoul not to let Kang in the US because he plays for the Pirates. Or it could just be his third DUI keeping him out!
Just to be clear:
Sir Peter Ricketts was the UK ambassador to France: no relation.
Pete Ricketts is the current Governor of Nebraska.
Todd Ricketts accepted President Trumps nomination as Sec. of Commerce.