The Pittsburgh Pirates are getting an unpleasant surprise just a little over a week before Opening Day.
Korean baseball writer Sung Min Kim reports on Friday that Pirates infielder Jung-ho Kang was not granted his visa to enter the United States and may not be able to play for the team in 2017.
Per Korean reports, Jung-Ho Kang was not granted the visa to enter the United States. Chances of playing w the #Pirates this year got cloudy
— Sung Min Kim (@sung_minkim) March 24, 2017
Kang, who will turn 30 next month, batted .255/.354/.513 with 21 home runs and 63 RBIs for Pittsburgh in 2016, a year after finishing third in National League Rookie of the Year voting. He recently entered a treatment program after a DUI arrest in December in his native South Korea, his third such arrest since 2009. Kim also adds that there’s suspicion Kang may have been convicted of DUI in a country other than the United States and South Korea.
The soon-to-be 34-year-old David Freese will likely be asked to fill in if Kang is indeed out of commission, giving the Pirates a more reliable glove but a lower-upside bat.
Image via MLB on YouTube
