Fact: This is the third consecutive year the Pittsburgh Pirates have clinched a playoff spot on September 23.
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Source: SportsCenter
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Devastating.
Purely and simply devastating.
There is hardly another way to sum up the awful fortune dealt to Pittsburgh Pirates valuable rookie shortstop Jung Ho Kang on Thursday afternoon after he was taken out while turning a double play against the Chicago Cubs.
Cubs left fielder Chris Coghlan slid into Kang’s left knee in the first inning, causing a fractured tibia and a torn MCL. Needless to say at this point in the year, Kang is done for the season as the Pirates push toward the playoffs and attempt to overtake the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Central.
Dejan Kovacevic of DKPittsburghSports.com (via USA Today‘s Bob Nightengale) first reported the severity of the injury, and Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported Kang would undergo surgery Thursday night.
“This is one of those things in baseball, you know you’ve got to go on, you know someone else has got to step up, but it hurts,” Hall of Fame pitcher and MLB Network analyst John Smoltz said on MLB Tonight. “It hurts in an emotional way. Pittsburgh’s going to be in the playoffs, no doubt, but it takes a little notch away from the depth they had working for them.”
Kang and Coghlan both downplayed the intent of the play. Coghlan sent a note to the home clubhouse after the Cubs’ 9-6 win, per Patrick Mooney of Comcast SportsNet, and Kang later said in a statement the play was not dirty and that Coghlan was “playing the game the way it should be played.”
Kang, a South Korean import who signed a four-year, $11 million deal before this season, was a major contributor to the Pirates’ success this year. He went into Thursday hitting .287/.355/.461 with an .816 OPS; he also had 15 home runs, a 123 OPS+ and was second on the team in FanGraphs’ wins above replacement (4.0) behind superstar center fielder Andrew McCutchen.
Those numbers took Kang from a platoon role early in the season to a vital part of the club’s fortunes, and he was also in the conversation for the NL Rookie of the Year Award.
Pirates when Jung Ho Kang starts 63-40, average 4.5 runs per game
when he doesn’t start 24-19, average 3.8 runs per game
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) September 17, 2015
The loss was Pittsburgh’s third in a row, all to the chasing Cubs, who have dropped the Pirates to 4.5 games behind the Cardinals as of the end of the third defeat. The Pirates allowed the Cubs to get within two games of the first wild-card berth, which would hold home-field advantage in the one-game playoff.
The Pirates now go into Los Angeles to face a Dodgers team that has gone 17-5 in its last 22 games—one of the best in the majors since Aug. 25. The Pirates will also have to face Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw, front-runners for the league’s Cy Young Award, in the first two games of the weekend set.
Later in the month the Pirates visit the Cubs for three games and return home to host the Cardinals for three more. Now they will do all of this without arguably their second-best player. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette‘s Bill Brink relayed a comment from Neil Walker:
Neil Walker: “They outplayed us, and then the icing on the cake is they knock out one of our best players.”
— Bill Brink (@BrinkPG) September 17, 2015
Send our teammate Jung Ho Kang prayers. Heal up Chingu(friend). We got u. Best believe that
— Andrew McCutchen (@TheCUTCH22) September 17, 2015
The Pirates, who have lost 10 of their last 18 games, had issues before Kang’s lineup-altering injury. In the 17 games before Thursday, the team had a .246/.313/.369 slash line with a .682 OPS. All of those numbers are below league average, and for this month the Pirates rate in the league’s bottom half in overall offense.
For his part, Kang was starting to pick things up in his previous eight games, hitting .303/.324/.545 with an .869 OPS and two home runs. Losing him and his defensive versatility—he plays shortstop and third base—is a significant blow, but the Pirates believe they can absorb it.
“Our bench is definitely built for something like this,” shortstop Jordy Mercer, who suffered a strained MCL earlier this season on a similar play to the one that took out Kang, told Adam Berry of MLB.com. “Obviously, we don’t want anything like this to happen, but in case something did happen, we’ve got guys that can fill in right away.”
The Pirates are about to embark on their most critical road trip of the season, facing two playoff teams in a 10-game stretch. The offense is sputtering. One of their best hitters is finished. Their grip on the top wild-card spot is iffy, and their hopes of taking the top spot in the division are dashed.
This is still a playoff team, though. They still have a legitimate middle-of-the-order star in McCutchen, an ace in Gerrit Cole and a run-preventing bullpen that is among the best in the majors. Those tools play well in October.
Now they just have to do so without one of their best players.
All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.
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Pittsburgh Pirates rookie infielder Jung Ho Kang went down with a nasty leg injury following a takeout slide from Chicago Cubs outfielder Chris Coghlan on Thursday, and the team’s worst fears were confirmed hours after a 9-6 loss.
According to ESPN’s Jim Bowden, Kang is done for the year after suffering a torn left MCL and fractured tibia that will require surgery.
Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette passed along a statement from Kang, via his agent, after the diagnosis was made official:
“There was nothing out of the ordinary about the play or Coghlan’s slide,” Yahoo Sports’ Kyle Ringo wrote. “Similar plays happen in games every day around the major leagues because baserunners are taught to slide into the infielder, trying to disrupt a throw.”
ESPN.com’s Jesse Rogers provided an overview of Coghlan’s thought process as the play unfolded:
“I hate that he’s hurt,” Coghlan said, per CSNChicago.com’s Patrick Mooney. “He’s a great player and you never want to injury anybody.”
Pirates star Andrew McCutchen was also quick to express sympathy for his injured teammate:
Prior to being ruled out for the rest of the year, Kang was piecing together a stellar debut season with the Pirates. Not only was he batting .287 with 15 home runs and 58 RBI, but Kang offered the Pirates positional versatility around the infield.
According to Baseball-Reference.com, Kang logged 535.1 innings at third base and 425.1 innings at shortstop. He also notched 4.1 wins above replacement, which ranked third among all Pirates players behind Starling Marte and McCutchen at the time of the injury.
Although the Pirates own a two-game lead over the Chicago Cubs for the NL’s top wild-card spot and a 100 percent chance of qualifying for the postseason, per FanGraphs, Kang’s absence could loom large as Pittsburgh attempts to make its first National League Championship Series appearance since 1992.
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Last week, the San Francisco Giants released their rendition of the Full House theme, dubbed “Full Clubhouse,” to promote an upcoming home date themed after the show.
But it was the Pittsburgh Pirates‘ turn in this week’s edition of “MLB team meets ’90s sitcom,” thanks to one fan who mashed footage of the team with the Family Matters intro.
[YouTube]
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On April 28, Jung Ho Kang owned a .182/.208/.227 slash line. He had one extra-base hit to his name. It was way early, sure, but it was also worth wondering if the Korean import’s game was going to translate to the big leagues.
Almost four months later, Kang has answered that question with an emphatic “ne.” (That’s “yes” in Korean.)
Really, his bat has done the talking. Entering play Tuesday, Kang’s slash line stands at a robust .285./357/.439. He’s become the Pittsburgh Pirates‘ everyday shortstop and has also seen time at third, helping cover for the Jordy Mercer and Josh Harrison losses because of injury.
And his 3.43 WAR ranks second among MLB rookies, per ESPN.com, behind only the San Francisco Giants‘ Matt Duffy (3.94 WAR).
Seriously, though, who saw that coming? In a league that features highly touted studs such as Joc Pederson, Kris Bryant, Carlos Correa and Noah Syndergaard, to name a few, how did Kang (and Duffy, for that matter) vault to the front of the line?
In Kang’s case, the answer is mostly opportunity.
Early in the year, Kang filled a utility role for the Bucs, and his at-bats came sparingly. He’s seen more action as the season wears on, however, and now with Mercer and Harrison sidelined, he’s been recast as a key offensive cog for Pittsburgh.
It’s not as if Kang exploded out of nowhere. He was a legitimate force in the Korean Baseball Organization, slamming 40 home runs and posting a 1.198 OPS for the Nexen Heroes in 2014.
Still, nobody was certain what those numbers would mean on this side of the pond, as Grantland’s Michael Baumann noted:
For as well as Kang had hit in Korea and for as little as he was being paid in Pittsburgh, the fact remained that he was coming from a league that had no precedent of producing MLB-quality position players, and entering his age-28 season, Kang was fully formed as a player. If he didn’t hit right away, odds were that he never would.
Kang was the scary kind of unknown, both because of his age and his origins.
So the 28-year-old slugger went to the Pirates on a modest four-year, $11 million deal, plus a $5 million posting fee. The move didn’t command all-caps headlines at the time, and even with his production since arriving in Pennsylvania, Kang is flying under the radar.
If he keeps swinging it like this, that will change soon.
“The information we had on him was that he was an incredibly prepared hitter,” Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said of his prize acquisition, per Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “But watching tape of a pitcher is one thing. Seeing him live is something different. He’s shown the ability to make some adjustments.”
It’s entirely possible, even probable, that the league will adjust back. After a scalding July—during which he hit .379 with a 1.064 OPS and won NL Rookie of the Month honors—he’s surely raised the eyebrows of every opposing pitcher in baseball.
With his experience and professional, disciplined approach, though, Kang figures to keep right on raking as the Pirates push toward a third consecutive postseason appearance.
He looks comfortable. He looks like he belongs. Clearly those April struggles are a distant footnote.
“We believed in the player,” Huntington told Cook. “We believed he would come through it. He’s rewarded us.”
With Kang stroking it like a seasoned big leaguer and forcing his way into the thick of the NL Rookie of the Year race, that’s putting it mildly.
Can this dude hit? Ne, he can.
All statistics current as of August 17 and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.
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Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher A.J. Burnett will sport custom-made Batman cleats from 3N2 on the mound at Great American Ball Park in Tuesday’s All-Star Game.
“Self expression is important to me,” Burnett said in a 3N2 press release. “When I’m on the mound I want there to be no mistaking who I am and what I’m out there to do. 3N2 has given me the freedom to fuse my personality with my game.”
The 17-year major league veteran is a first-time All-Star, named to the National League team by manager Bruce Bochy.
[Twitter]
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There’s a certain beauty to a perfect slide. It’s graceful, smooth and pretty much exactly the opposite of what Starling Marte did on Saturday.
While trying to swipe second base in the bottom of the seventh against the Atlanta Braves, the Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder took an ugly tumble. As he sped toward the bag, Marte used his chest as a brake and wound up flipping over completely.
The worst part (aside from the definite pain)? Pedro Alvarez fouled off the pitch.
Back to first you go, Starling.
[MLB.com]
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In a battle of the long ball vs. small ball, the Pittsburgh Pirates picked up a 10-8 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Friday night in Turner Field.
With the victory, the Pirates won their fourth game in a row. They have also won 12 of their last 14.
The hot streak has helped Pittsburgh to gain some ground on the St. Louis Cardinals, who still lead the NL Central by six games.
The pitching for Pittsburgh struggled and sloppy defense resulted in three errors. However, the potent Pirate offense masked the deficiencies for Pittsburgh.
Neil Walker and Starling Marte both blasted homers, leading to five runs. Francisco Cervelli was the star of the evening for Pittsburgh, collecting four hits and driving in two runs of his own.
For Atlanta, the offense was just as potent. The Braves played their typical brand of small ball to put up eight runs.
The offense just wasn’t enough to overcome a rough outing from the Atlanta bullpen, which gave up six earned runs over the final four innings.
The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for Atlanta, who currently sits in third place in the NL East.
The second game of the three-game series is scheduled for tomorrow 7:10 p.m. ET. The Pirates try to capture the series win as the Braves look to bounce back at home.
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Having reached the postseason each of the past two seasons only to fall in the divisional playoff round, the Pittsburgh Pirates were considered one of the early favorites to represent the National League in the World Series.
However, early-season slumps by key players and an inconsistent pitching staff have them sitting below .500 at the quarter mark of the season and looking up at the division-leading St. Louis Cardinals who already have nearly a double-digit game lead over the Pirates.
As the Pirates try to get back on track and in contention, let’s take a look at what we’ve learned from their uneven start to this season.
The Pittsburgh Pirates got a little friendly with their Instagram followers on Friday, promoting a fan giveaway of free tickets and, err, sexual donuts.
Yep, sexual donuts.
Now, we’ll give the Pirates the benefit of the doubt—it had to have been an unfortunate autocorrect or a misunderstanding with Siri, right?
Hopefully.
The post has since been taken down, but not before screenshots were snapped.
This is a good lesson in what you put on the Internet, kids. It lives forever. Even if you delete it.
(h/t Sporting News)
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