Korean shortstop Jung-ho Kang will be posted by the Nexen Heroes on Monday, his agent Alan Nero told Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports on Saturday, making the Korean Baseball Organization star available for bidding by major league teams.
Korean SS Jung-ho Kang to be posted Monday, per report
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Kang, who turns 28 in April, hit .356/.459/.739 with 40 home runs in the offense-friendly KBO in 2014, with 117 RBI, 103 runs scored and 36 doubles in 117 games. In his seven full seasons in the KBO, Kang has hit .300/.385/.507, averaging 20 home runs and 28 doubles per year.
In those seven full seasons, Kang has made five All-Star teams and won four Gold Glove Awards. He played for Korea in the 2013 World Baseball Classic.
The Mets, Giants and Athletics are believed to have interest in Kang, per Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, though it is unclear what position Kang will play in the majors or if his bat would translate in the U.S.
“Executives from MLB teams have been more dubious how Kang’s power will translate in the States because the competition in Korea is inferior to even that in Japan,” Joel Sherman of the New York Post wrote in November. “Plus, there was concern if Kang would be athletic enough to handle full-time play at shortstop in MLB.”
Whichever MLB team wins the bid for Kang, it will have 30 days with which to work out a contract with the shortstop. If the two sides can’t work out a deal, Nexen receives no money and Kang would have to return to Korea, and couldn’t be posted until next offseason, as was the case with pitcher Kwang-hyun Kim, who couldn’t come to terms with the Padres by Thursday and will return to the SK Wyverns in 2015.
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