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Ex-major leaguer Kang Jung-ho eyes return to MLB

Published: 26 Mar. 2025, 15:20 Updated: 27 Mar. 2025, 08:48

Kang Jung-ho speaks in a video shared on his YouTube channel on March 25. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Former major leaguer Kang Jung-ho, whose career went off the rails due to off-field issues, has announced he will try out for big-league teams.

In a video posted on his YouTube channel this week, Kang said he decided to give MLB another shot after "so many people voted" in favor of his bid for tryouts.

"Even though I am on the old side, I want to show people that I can keep moving forward," the 37-year-old former infielder said. "Regardless of how things turn out, I want to do the best I can."

Kang ran a survey about a tryout last week and 92 percent of some 30,000 people who voted supported Kang's pursuit.

He made his pro debut with the Hyundai Unicorns in the KBO, the previous incarnation of the Kiwoom Heroes franchise, in 2006. After the 2014 season, Kang signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates through posting.

Kang finished third in the National League Rookie of the Year voting in 2015 and had a career-high 21 home runs in 2016. But his major league career went into a tailspin in December 2016 after he crashed his car into a guardrail in Seoul while driving under the influence of alcohol and fleeing the scene. It was his third drunk driving incident.

Kang missed the entire 2017 season because he failed to obtain a U.S. work permit and later received a suspended prison term. He then appeared in only three games at the end of the 2018 season.

The Pirates gave him a second chance with a new one-year deal for 2019 but released the underperforming player in August that year after 65 games.

Kang sought a return to the KBO in 2020 but abandoned that bid in the face of heavy criticism. Two years later, the Heroes signed him to a one-year contract but the KBO refused to approve that deal, forcing Kang to give up on the comeback plan once again.

He has served as a personal hitting instructor for some KBO players in recent years.

Yonhap