Prior to Monday’s Pittsburgh Pirates game it was revealed that Jung Ho Kang was named National League Rookie of the Month.
Kang batted .379 in July with an OPS of 1.064. He batted .379 with 33 hits and a .443 on-base percentage.
The voting for this category took place over the weekend. Gerrit Cole [Sept. 2013] was the last Pirates player to accomplish this feat and Pedro Alvarez [Sept. 2010] was the most recent position player.
He has continued this hot streak into August as he has homered three times in his past six games and shares the league lead in homers among rookies since the All-Star Break with four. Kang has hit safely in 11 of his past 14 games and in his past 19 games has batted .400.
During the team’s most recent road trip, Kang batted .391 with nine hits in 23 at-bats.
Kang started his season and major league career with a .269 batting average. His previous high for OPS was .843 in May when he batted .298.
On the season Kang has 25 multi-hit games and eight multi-RBI games. He has balanced playing third base and shortstop however with recent injury has been a fixture at shortstop.
Kang joins Andrew Heaney of the American League’s Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim as the two recipients of this honor in their respective leagues.
New York Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard, Giants pitcher Chris Heston, St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Randal Grichuk, Atlanta Braves pitcher Matt Wisler, Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Taylor Jungmann, Miami Marlins first baseman Justin Bour and Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Odubel Herrera were the other players that received votes.
Kang will receive a specially designed trophy engraved to commemorate the accomplishment.
Photo courtesy: Andy Lyons/Getty Images
