In Thursday afternoon’s loss to the Cubs (CHC 9, PIT 6), the Pirates lost infielder Jung Ho Kang to a knee injury when Chris Coghlan slid into him on a take-out slide at second base. Kang remained on the ground for several minutes before being helped off the field.
Here’s video of the play:
The Pirates have announced it as a knee injury but have not given any further details. Kang released a statement Thursday evening acknowledging a “serious” injury, and he absolved Coghlan of any blame.
Multiple reports indicate Kang has suffered a fractured tibia and a torn MCL, and will soon undergo season-ending surgery. The team has not confirmed the diagnosis, however. We’re still waiting on official word.
Assuming the reports are true — given the sheer number of reporters passing along the news, there is no reason to believe the reports are inaccurate — here are five things to know about the injury.
1. Coghlan’s slide was not dirty.
Take-out slides are dangerous and, frankly, they should not be allowed. That is not a response to Kang’s injury. It’s just a general belief shared by many baseball insiders and fans. It’s time to get them out of the game.
Anyway, Coghlan’s slide was not dirty or illegal because he was able to reach the second base bag. Yes, he kicked his leg out to interfere with Kang, but he was able to touch the base, so all is good. Here’s a relevant screen grab:
Coghlan can clearly reach the base — and he did a second later — making the slide legal. The rule is dumb, yes, but right now the rule is the rule. The slide was not dirty. It was dangerous, but not dirty. It’s what many old-school folk would call a good, hard baseball play. It just had a very unfortunate result.
2. The Pirates do have infield depth …
Kang split his time between shortstop and third base and the Pirates do have infield depth, so finding someone to take his place in the lineup won’t be difficult. Neil Walker is entrenched as the everyday second baseman and Jordy Mercer figures to settle in as the everyday shortstop now. Aramis Ramirez and Josh Harrison can share time at the hot corner. (Harrison can also play second and short in a pinch, if necessary.) The team has the depth to absorb losing an infielder.
3. … but they can’t replace Kang’s bat.
That said, the Pirates can not replace Kang’s production. They have people to fill in at the various positions, but Pittsburgh just lost their regular No. 4/5 hitter. Kang owns a .287/.355/.461 batting line with 24 doubles, 15 home runs and 58 RBI in 125 games this season and has been hitting in the middle of the club’s lineup since May.
Here are what the team’s other infielders have done on the season, including Thursday’s game:
Harrison: .273/.314/.367
Mercer: .239/.289/.304
Ramirez: .249/.296/.425 overall and .253/.299/.416 with the Pirates
Walker: .269/.331/.420
That’s rough. Walker has been very good, but he would have been in the lineup alongside Kang anyway. Mercer, Ramirez and Walker will now see additional playing time and none of them have produced like Kang. The offense figures to experience a significant drop-off with those guys getting at-bats.
4. The injury may impact 2016.
Again, the Pirates have not yet officially announced an update on Kang other than to say it is a knee injury. Reports indicate he suffered a fractured tibia, which could require substantial recovery time depending on the nature of the break. If it is severe enough, it could affect Kang’s availability for spring training and possibly even the start of the 2016 season. We’ll have to wait for an official update, but it’s not impossible the injury will carry over into next season. Hopefully that is not the case. That would be really unfortunate.
5. The injury will have little impact on the NL Rookie of the Year race.
For much of the summer, the NL Rookie of the Year race was pretty wide open, with Kang competing against others like Kris Bryant, Matt Duffy and Noah Syndergaard. Bryant has separated himself from the pack in recent weeks and is now the favorite for the award.
Kang was still very much in the race, and while he could have closed the gap in the final two weeks of the season, it would have been a tall order. The voters won’t hold missing these last two weeks against Kang just as they won’t hold spending the first two weeks in Triple-A against Bryant. The injury will affect the Rookie of the Year race a bit, but Bryant’s spot is pretty solid right now.
Jung Ho Kang has reportedly suffered a season-ending knee injury. (USATSI)
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.
