Former Pirates infielder Jung Ho Kang has halted his push to potentially return to the Korea Baseball Organization after three DUIs, calling himself and his situation a “burden” to his former club, the Kiwoom Heroes.
Kang made the announcement on Instagram on Monday.
“I realized once again that I had committed too big of a mistake to be asking fans for their forgiveness,” Kang wrote according to Yonhap News. “I wanted to show people that I had changed, and I wanted to play baseball with the Heroes again. But I see that I was just being greedy and that I was being a burden to the KBO, the Heroes and my fellow baseball players.”
Whether or not Kang will return to the KBO has been an ongoing saga. He originally faced a three-year ban for his misdeeds, which included a suspended jail term in May 2017. The suspension was later knocked down to one year plus 300 hours in community service in late May. Kang pledged a day later to donate his salary to charity should he sign with a KBO team.
Kang had been heavily criticized for trying to return, leading him to apologize during a press conference last Tuesday and essentially beg for forgiveness. It didn’t work.
What happens next is somewhat tricky, as Kang was placed on the “voluntarily retired list” in 2015 when he signed with the Pirates. The Heroes retained his rights.
Kiwoom would have to sign off on any move that might lift Kang from the list, and he would also need another KBO club to give him a chance — neither of which is likely.
It’s possibly the same with Major League Baseball, which means that Kang, 33, may be looking at retirement.
“No matter what I do, I will continue to try to become a better person and to take care of my family and people around me,” Kang wrote per Yonhap. “I will give back to the community and become a contributing member of society.”
Kang broke onto the scene in 2015 and finished third in NL Rookie of the Year voting after slashing .287/.355/.461 with 15 home runs and 58 RBIs in 126 games.
He had 21 home runs and 62 RBIs in 103 games a year later before things unraveled, with Kang driving into a guardrail in December 2016 and fleeing the scene. Kang would appear in just three games over the next two seasons because of Visa issues.
The Pirates released Kang on Aug. 4, 2019, after he hit just .169 in 65 games.
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: June 29, 2020, 7:10 p.m.
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