Five weeks ago, in a small church outside of Boston, Jung Ho Kang nervously buttoned his black sports coat, dropped to his knees, bowed his head, and was baptized as a Christian.
“Never in the past did I think that I would be in that situation, standing in a church waiting to be baptized,” Kang told The Athletic through a translator on Friday at PNC Park. “It was way more nerve-racking that stepping into the batter’s box.”
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Kang’s conversion is rooted in his recent, turbulent past, which includes a gruesome knee injury during his first season with the Pirates, an accusation of sexual assault, and multiple drunk-driving convictions in South Korea which cost him his U.S. work visa and forced him to sit out the past two seasons.
Yet, it was an empty stomach during an unpleasant winter in the Dominican Republic that impelled Kang, unknowingly at first, down the path from agnostic to believer. The man who took him in and fed him — a former furniture exporter-turned-religious missionary who spent four years in Chinese prison camps — became Kang’s spiritual guide.
“Now I really understand why Christians say there is a reason for everything and God works in mysterious ways,” Kang said with a smile.
The wave of Kang-mania that swept through Pittsburgh during his stellar rookie season has cooled considerably. If he makes the team out of spring training, there will be boos mixed with the cheers at the home opener in April. He is prepared for that. And he realizes not everyone will accept his story of newfound faith.
“There’s always going to be doubters,” Kang said. “There’s always going to be people who post things online and things like that. Part of that is my fault because of what happened before, so it’s nothing that comes to me as a surprise. But what is important for me is I personally know what the truth is, and I am preparing well, both for baseball and personally. So, the truth will unveil as time passes.”
Redemption was not the reason Kang went to the Dominican in September 2017. He merely wanted to play baseball.
“Self-interest was the most important thing for me,” Kang said. “I wasn’t exactly an atheist, but I never put any thought behind believing in a greater power, so to speak. For me, it was more of a thing where if I entrusted myself and my soul to a greater power, that would be a sign of weakness. That’s why I never put any time or effort behind a religion. I wanted to put myself in the center of things.”
In January 2015, the Pirates paid a $5 million posting fee to Nexen of the Korean Baseball Organization and signed Kang to a four-year, $11 million contract. It quickly looked like a bargain, as Kang hit .287/.355/.461 with 15 home runs. His season ended prematurely in mid-September when Kang tore up his knee and fractured his leg in a collision at second base with the Chicago Cubs’ Chris Coghlan.
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In his first game back with the team in May 2016, Kang hit a pair of home runs. He was healthy, he had adjusted to living and working in America, and he was an important cog in the lineup for a team that had been to the postseason in each of the previous three years. For Kang, who had been a star in the KBO and seemed to be on his way to similar fame in MLB, the future never seemed brighter.
Things began to fall apart about six weeks later when a woman alleged that Kang had sexually assaulted her while the Pirates were in Chicago for a weekend series against the Cubs. According to a police report, the woman said she met Kang via the online dating app Bumble and went to his room at the team hotel, where he drugged and sexually assaulted her. Kang was never charged with a crime, however, and the investigation stalled when the woman stopped cooperating with police.
After the season, Kang went back to Gwangju, South Korea, for the first time in almost two years. Around 3 a.m. on Dec. 2, 2016, Kang was driving home after a night of partying when his BMW caromed off a guard rail at a high speed and narrowly avoided hitting other cars.
Kang at first claimed he was not driving, but a camera embedded in the dashboard recorded the entire event. He eventually was convicted of drunken driving — his third DUI offense since 2009 — and was given an eight-month suspended sentence.
Because of his multiple convictions, Kang’s application for a U.S. visa was denied. He missed the entire 2017 season. That September, he flew to the Dominican Republic to play winter ball for Aguilas Cibaenas, aiming to stay in baseball shape as he worked out his visa issues.
Instead, Kang found new problems in the Dominican Winter League. “The system of baseball, the culture, the food, the infrastructure and environment, the facilities — those things were all very different and very hard for me to wrap my head around,” Kang said. “It was very challenging for me. I lost some weight and wasn’t sure what I was doing.”
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In the DWL, players must provide their own meals. In an interview last winter with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Aguilas general manager Manny Acta said Kang was warned about the nutritional challenges but never adjusted. “He never felt like he had his strength back,” Acta told the Post-Gazette. After Kang batted .143 in 24 games, Acta booted him off the roster.
Steve Kim, 70, and his wife Helen, 65, live on Long Island, N.Y., but spend several months each year in Santiago de los Caballeros, D.R., doing charity and missionary work. When they heard there was a fellow South Korean native playing winter ball there, they decided to go to a game and try to meet him.
“Jung Ho could hit the ball, but it didn’t go out of the ballpark,” Kim said. “He wasn’t strong enough. He needed some good food.”
The Kims invited Kang to dinner at their apartment. Lured by the traditional Korean dishes, he became a frequent visitor. After he was cut by Aguilas, Kang moved in with the couple for three months and continued to train on his own.
“When he couldn’t go back into the USA, he was desperate,” Kim said. “He’s a quiet person … but we could see how desperate he was. We wanted to comfort him and help him.”
Once a week, the Kims’ table would expand to include seven other missionaries. Those dinners included periods of prayer and worship and often lasted three hours or more. During one such meal, Kang listened as Steve Kim explained how he began his religious work.
Kim was a furniture exporter when he moved to China in the late 1990s. Touched by the plight of North Korean refugees, who often are used as slave labor in China, he got involved in an underground railroad that took the fugitives through Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand and eventually to safety in the United States. Kim was arrested by Chinese police in 2003.
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On Kim’s first day in prison, a North Korean prisoner handed him a small, worn book and said, “If you want to go home, you must read the Bible.” Before he was released in 2007, Kim had converted one of his guards and helped set up secret Bible groups among the international prisoners.
“This is how God trained me,” Kim said. “When I got out of prison, I knew I could no longer do anything except God’s work. God called me to spread the Gospel.”
Kim founded 318 Partners Mission Foundation — he was convicted under Article 318 of the Chinese penal code — a non-profit group that aids orphans and refugees and establishes underground churches in North Korea.
“It’s an amazing story,” Kang said. “I began to think, based on what he was saying and started opening up. It was a completely different world than what I had come from. I started to realize more about how pastor Kim approaches life differently than I did. It showed me there are different ways, and there are better ways.”
Eventually, Kang decided to convert. The Kims marked his decision last spring with a small, informal blessing ceremony at their apartment. Soon after, Kang’s visa case came up for another review. The Kims went with Kang to the U.S. consulate for support.
“Before we left (for the hearing), he said, ‘I believe in God, and I trust in him. If I don’t get back to the USA, it’s OK. I know God might have some other plan for me,’” Steve Kim said. “That’s the kind of faith he has.”
Kang’s visa was approved. By May, he was in Bradenton, Fla., working out at Pirate City. Kang played in a handful of games with the minor league affiliates in Bradenton (where he crushed High-A pitching for a .417 average and a 1.406 OPS) and Indianapolis (where Triple-A pitchers checked him to a .235 average and .572 OPS), then sat out about two months with a wrist injury that required surgery.
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Throughout the summer, Kang and the Kims kept in touch every day via texts. Steve Kim sent him stories from the Bible. Helen Kim’s messages are more personal — the mother of three says she considers Kang her second son and often refers to him as “my little boy” — and encourage him to stay on track.
“I told him, ‘You are a lucky boy because now everything will change. It will be much better than before,’ ” Helen Kim said. “Since I’ve met him, he’s changed a lot. He feels very peaceful now that he trusts in God. He never felt like that before. When he first started praying, he used to pray only for himself. Now, he prays for others, which is what a real Christian does.”
By September, Kang’s wrist had healed, and he got back on the field at Pirate City. Then the Pirates called him up for their final three regular-season games. Of the 54 players who were teammates with Kang throughout the 2016 season, only 15 were still with the Pirates when he returned. Two of those, Gregory Polanco and Chad Kuhl, were not with the team that weekend in Cincinnati due to injuries. “It’s been two years,” second baseman Josh Harrison said as he watched Kang set up his locker. “I don’t know if there’s a lot of guys here he knows.”
In the seventh inning on Sept. 28, Kang pinch-hit for Steven Brault and took his first big league at-bat in nearly two years. On the second pitch, he hit a line-drive single to left field. Kang started the next day’s game at third base. In the record book, Kang’s 2018 line looks like little more than a cameo appearance — two hits and one strikeout in six at-bats — but it held substantial importance to him.
“He’s put all the work in he can do there, and to say ‘Just three games,’ I think takes away all the work he’s done,” manager Clint Hurdle said.“It makes it seem frivolous. You can’t control the timing of everything. He poured in, he got ready. For me, we would be remiss in, ‘Well, there’s only three games, buddy. You worked really hard, but never mind.’ You have no idea what these three games might mean to him. I think that’s something we need to be mindful of, as well.”
After the season, Kang remained in Pittsburgh. He said he kept up his daily prayer routine and regularly attended Korean Central Church in Shadyside. Yet, he said, it all didn’t quite feel complete. Kang texted Steve Kim and asked him how to be baptized. Kim got in touch with a friend, Rev. Andy Tschong of Nazazim Community Church in Burlington, Mass. On Oct. 28, Tschong performed the official ceremony.
“I think Jung Ho has found redemption,” Steve Kim said. “Many people pray. But if you live in sin, God doesn’t listen to you because God doesn’t like the sin. You must repent first. This is what I taught him. He has to rely on God’s will, then God will listen to his prayers.”
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After his baptism, Kang returned to Pittsburgh to work out at PNC Park. He said that he’s become more of a homebody and doesn’t go bar-hopping anymore. Kang had to forfeit his Korean driver’s license and cannot get one in the U.S., so he relies on his translator, Mark Kim, for transportation. He plans to visit some friends in Los Angeles for a few days before spring training gets underway in mid-February.
“As far as my training regimen goes, things are pretty similar as they’ve always been,” Kang said. “I don’t think I’ve made changes to how I’m training; it’s more on the mental and emotional side. I feel more ready. I feel like I want it more.
“I want to prove something — that there has been a change in me. I’m looking forward to the season.”
Because Kang was on the restricted list while he was unable to get a visa, the Pirates didn’t have to pay him the $2.75 million he would have made in 2017. Kang’s two-year layoff created enough doubt about his ability to return to form that the Pirates did not trigger their $5.5 million contract option for 2019. Instead Kang re-signed as a free agent for $3 million. His deal includes performance incentives that could push his earnings back up to $5.5 million.
Kang, who will turn 32 in April, will be a free agent after this coming season. Where will he go from there? He pondered the question for a long moment.
“I don’t have any specific goals about baseball or my faith,” Kang said. “I think it’s a matter of me continuing to put in effort, continuing to believe and continuing to try to live a better life and become a better person. I think God will answer that. I think I’m on a good path.”
(Top photo courtesy of Steve Kim)