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Kang Jung-ho ends season prematurely due to knee injury

Posted September. 19, 2015 07:03,   

한국어

Kang Jung-ho (28) of the Pittsburgh Pirates will miss the rest of this season due to injury.

Kang played shortstop in a home game against the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the U.S. on Friday. When Kang was about to throw a double play ball to the first base with the bases loaded in the top of the first inning, with both teams scoreless, the first base runner Chris Coghlan of Chicago played hard sliding. Coghlan’s right leg strongly hit Kang’s left knee. A double play was posted, but Kang expressed strong pain, holding his knee and lying down. After all, he was helped off the field by his teammates to the dugout, before being taken to hospital. Pittsburgh ended up losing the game 6-9.

In an official Twitter post, Pittsburgh said, “Kang underwent surgery tonight at Allegany General Hospital on a displaced lateral tibial plateau fracture and lateral meniscal repair. He can return to games in six to eight months.” Hence, he may be able to come back at exhibition games in March at the earliest or in May after the opening of next season.

Song Joon-seop, head of Seoul JS Hospital who served as coach for the Korean national soccer team, said, “Fortunately, the injury was external, not internal, and he will not likely suffer aftereffect. Surgery of internal cartilage could entail arthritis because it gets more weight, but external is less likely.” He added, “Since Kang underwent surgery promptly to tie up the ruptured cartilaginous, and the prognosis of the surgery will likely be good. The sooner surgery is done, the faster a ruptured cartilage recovers.” The part on the knee rarely gets injured in baseball, but is frequently injured in baseball in which players bump into each other frequently. Park Ji-sung received surgery for removal and regeneration of the internal meniscal cartilage in his right knee in 2003 and 2008. After his retirement, Park said he played despite constant pain in the knee.

Criticism is mounting against Coghlan’s sliding, with critics calling it dirty. Coghlan played sliding targeting Kang’s left knee rather than the second base itself, by holding high his leg in order to block Kang from throwing the ball properly. Michael Wilbon, columnist on the U.S. sports channel ESPN, pointed out that it was not the first time Coghlan committed such violent sliding. Coghlan displayed violent sliding towards Akinori Iwamura, second baseman of Tampa Bay in 2009, and ruptured the latter’s cruciate ligament. Korean fans have blasted Coghlan, saying he is displaying discriminatory play against Asian players.

However, Kang said in a statement through his agent that “It is unfortunately that what would be heads of baseball would cause such serious injury. I am confident he meant me no harm.” Coghlan sent a letter of regret to Pittsburgh’s Club House after the game. However, he said, “I did the sliding apparently in line with rules. It was unfortunate that Kang did not have time to jump.” Unlike Korean fans, some players in the Major League Baseball expressed they understand Coghlan’s play, with Kang’s teammate Neil Walker saying, “We were trained to play hard sliding. We were instructed to launch sliding in a way that prevent a fielder from touching the ground.”

Kang has displayed impressive play this season, posting a batting average of 0.287, on-base percentage of 0.355, a slugging rate of 0.461, 51 homers, and 58 RBIs, and was even in the race to win the Rookie of the Year award. Jody Mercer will most likely replace Kang as shortstop.



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