Are The Braves Bidding on Jae-gyun Hwang?

Sep 13, 2015; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates third baseman Jung Ho Kang (27) hits an RBI single against the Milwaukee Brewers during the seventh inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Comp Me

A year ago the Pirates brought infielder Jung Ho Kang from the KBO. Kang slashed 320/.422/.593/1.014 in his last three KBO seasons (2012-2014). The 2014 was Kang’s career year as he posted 9 .356/.439/.739 with 40 homers in only 117 games; scouts weren’t impressed.

Before he was signed, projections suggested Kang would be a nice bench piece for the Bucs. Instead he became an integral part of the Pirates push for a divisional title perspective with solid defense (4DRS at third as well as filling in at short and second) while posting a .287/.355/.461 with 15 homers in 467PA. That was good for a 1.67 ISO, .356 wOBA, 130 wRC+ and 3.9 fWAR

During Hwang’s last three years he posted a .295/.362/.463/.825 line with 45 homers and as shown in the graphic his walk year (2015) was also his best year to date.

Here’s a video – one of many – of Hwang from this season. Unless your Korean is better than mine, you might want to mute the audio. He has hits to all fields and score from first on a double to right as well as a few pretty good defensive plays.

One thing the Koreans do a lot of in their league is the bat flip. Unlike some They don’t stare into the opponents dugout, sneer and flip the bat in that direction, it wouldn’t be sportsman like. They do however have some pretty good flips and Hwang has an epic flip. Have a look for yourself, the bat flip is close to the end of the clip

To be fair he did put a charge into that ball but he should probably tone it down a bit here.

I mentioned he’s fast and a good base runner. But as you will see, even the best base runners make a mistake now and then. Here’s Hwang in a comparison of belly flops they ended short of the base with Kevin Millar.

Maybe we tell him no headfirst slides.