Jeongho Kang (Seoul Nexen Heroes)
The Boston Globe, one of the most influential newspapers in Massachusetts published a brief article yesterday about a young Korean baseball player. The newspaper was introducing short stop Jeong-ho Kang, who is a potential Korean Major League player that many MLB scouts are keeping an eye on.
26-year-old Kang is currently playing short stop for the Seoul Nexen Heroes (Korean Baseball Organization). The Boston Globe reported that Kang so far this season in the KBO has hit 38 homeruns and 107 RBIs (Runs Batted In) with a 300 batting average. They emphasized how Kang is spending his 7th season with the Korean professional league, and at the end of this season he will become qualified to transfer to baseball leagues abroad with the approval of his team, including the MLB.
This season, Kang has been setting many records for the Korean baseball league. For instance, he is the first short stop in the league to hit over 30 homeruns and is expected to be the first short stop to hit over 40 homeruns. The Boston Globe emphasized Kang's position on his team since even in the Major Leagues short stops with that kind of batting capabilities are hard to find. Such players include Derek Jeter (NYY) who retired and Alex Rodriguez.
The MLB ball club that showed the most interest in this Korean infield player is the St. Louis Cardinals. However, the Cardinals already have Jhonny Peralta as their starting short stop. However, the Boston newspaper also stated that Kang is capable even of playing 2nd or 3rd base. They explained that the Cardinals may be interested in finding a substitute for their current 2nd baseman, Kolton Wong who is not doing as well as their other infield players.
Other MLB ball clubs including the Cardinals have scouts in Korea to observe Kang and his performance in most of the Seoul Nexen Heroes games. As of now however, Kang is recovering from a finger injury and has not shown up on the field for over a week. However, KBO and Heroes insiders have expressed that the injury is only minor and their short stop should be back on the field soon.
If Kang earns approval from his current ball club at the end of this season, he will become the second KBO player to transfer directly to an MLB team without having to spend time in Minor Leagues after Hyun Jin Ryu (Los Angeles Dodgers) and the third Korean field player to play for an MLB club after Heesop Choi (Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers) and Shin-Soo Choo (Texas Rangers).
