Pirates not expecting to have Jung Ho Kang in 2018

Rob Biertempfel
Saturday, Dec. 9, 2017 8:36 p.m. | Saturday, Dec. 9, 2017 8:36 p.m.

Christopher Horner | Tribune-Review

The Pirates' Jung Ho Kang sits in the dugout during a game against the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park last season.

The Pirates are not expecting to have Jung Ho Kang back in 2018.

“Getting Kang back would be huge,” general manager Neal Huntington said Saturday at PiratesFest. “We don't think it's going to happen, but it would be huge.”

Kang remains stuck in South Korea, unable to get a U.S. work visa after his third drunk driving conviction. He recently reapplied for a visa.

Kang's absence left the Pirates without a full-time third baseman. They did not address the position after Kang's arrest in January for DUI and wound up using eight players at third.

“The fact that we went into last offseason … thinking we had a reasonably good chance of getting him into the country (in 2017) was on me,” president Frank Coonelly said. “The visa process was more complicated for him than we realized. That's on me. I gave Neal bad advice that we could get Jung Ho back into the country.”