Pirates Kang expected to return for match against Cincinnati Reds

Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Jung Ho Kang, who has not appeared in a game since 2016 because of legal issues and injuries, is expected to return this weekend for his team's final regular-season series against the Cincinnati Reds, the club announced Thursday.

Kang, 31, hit .287 with 15 homers and 58 RBIs in his first season with the Pirates in 2015. He followed that by hitting .255 with 21 homers and 62 RBIs in 2016.

Then came trouble.

Kang was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in December 2016 after he allegedly was involved in a hit-and-run crash in his native South Korea. His work visa to enter the United States was revoked until earlier this year, forcing him to miss all of last season and part of this season.

After he was cleared to return this year, he sustained a wrist injury that kept him out of action. He underwent surgery on his left wrist in early August but has worked his way back to be ready for the final series, Friday through Sunday in Cincinnati.

Kang has a $5.5 million club option for next season.

Pirates general manager Neal Huntington recently said the team had not decided whether to pick up the option heading into 2019. He acknowledged that it was hard to measure the effectiveness of a player who had not appeared in a big league game in two years.

"It's a great question," Huntington said in comments published by the Pirates' official website. "We wish we had more data. ...

"We'll see where the market takes us. We like the player, we like the upside. Obviously, to add a right-handed bat that can hit 25 to 30 home runs and play good defense, if we can get him back to that, that's a really interesting player. But we haven't seen that player in two years. So if there's a middle ground, hopefully, we'll be able to find it."

Huntington said he is uncertain about the probability that Kang will bounce back strong.

"It's really hard to put a probability on that because it's a unique situation," Kang said. "It's one thing when a player misses time due to injury, he gets healthy and he comes back. This is another one where he missed a full year because he just couldn't play, he couldn't report to work. So how do you balance the full year when he couldn't report to work with a partial year because he couldn't report to work and then a partial year because he was injured?

"We do know the desire is still there. We do know he wants to help this team. We do know he wants to be a good major league player. That's the foundation you work to build off of, it's just how aggressively do you build?"