The Pirates have announced that they will place third baseman Jung Ho Kang on the 15-day DL and will recall first baseman Josh Bell to take his place on the active roster. Kang sustained a left shoulder injury while sliding into second base during yesterday’s game against the Marlins.
Kang has batted a robust .243/.326/.481 in 267 plate appearances this year, although those numbers have dipped and his defense has flagged in the past two months (although he has three home runs in the past week). He has also faced allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman in a Chicago hotel earlier this summer.
With Kang on the shelf, David Freese will likely take most of the Pirates’ playing time at third base. Meanwhile, Bell will likely share time with John Jaso at first. Bell, one of the Bucs’ top prospects, had a brief stint in the Majors earlier in the summer and didn’t disappoint, reaching base in all four of his plate appearances and hitting a grand slam. But the Pirates opted to return him to the minors and continue playing Jaso, despite Jaso’s underwhelming performance at the plate. For the season, Bell has batted .295/.382/.468 at Triple-A Indianapolis, although his glove, rather than his bat, appeared to be the main source of the Pirates’ reluctance to give him regular playing time.
Maybe Bell will actually get to see the field this time up.
A .243 average qualifies as “robust?”
You read this site and use batting average as your best measure of offense?
No, but it surely is a major factor in determining it IMO. Not yours?
He’s not wrong in his thinking. Altuve has a BA 40 points higher than Kangs OBP. Unless robust has 2 meanings, I’m with James.
From the story on Matt Kemp…”Kemp’s best asset is his bat, but he has only produced a league-average line (.259/.291/.475) despite 24 home runs in 505 plate appearances this year.” but Kang’s 243/326/481 is “robust? What makes it robust, the higher OBP. Some people can gauge effectiveness looking at starts that are actual results of on field play an do not contain words like “would” or “if” in the description.
No offence to meant to Charlie for his word choice.
Thank you James I was thinking the same thing. In my book .243 stinks. I guess some feel its robust?
Getting on base is the most important skill a hitter can do. And a 481 slg% for a middle infielder is pretty great. If you’re just looking at batting average that’s a little misleading. three or four more hits and it would be in the 270s or so, and three or four more hits is just luck.
Look at the stats beside it
I’m just happy the word “slashed” was not used to describe it.
I wouldn’t mind seeing Zach Walters get picked up for some minor league depth. I know he doesn’t fit the mold of a Pirate hitter with his OPS, but like his flexibility.