Home   >   Sports   >   Kang Jung-ho plays 3B, Choo Shin-soo hits a triple

Kang Jung-ho plays 3B, Choo Shin-soo hits a triple

March 12, 2015
Pittsburgh Pirates' Kang Jung-ho of South Korea hits a double during a spring training exhibition baseball game against the New York Yankees in Bradenton, Fla., Thursday, March 5, 2015. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Pittsburgh Pirates’ Kang Jung-ho of South Korea hits a double during a spring training exhibition baseball game against the New York Yankees in Bradenton, Fla., Thursday, March 5, 2015. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

By Brian Han

Kang Jung-ho played third base on Thursday despite most of his value coming from his reputation as a power-hitting middle infielder.

He’s no stranger to the hot corner and played the position in South Korea for the 2013 World Baseball Classic.

“I was very comfortable there,” Kang told an MLB.com reporter Monday and it showed as he fielded two grounders with no hesitation.

He went 1-for-2 with a single and a strikeout in a Pittsburgh Pirates’ 5-1 loss to the Boston Red Sox.

Kang’s performance boosted his preseason batting average to an unimpressive .231, but to put things in perspective he still holds the sixth-highest average on the roster.

Texas Rangers' Shin-Soo Choo of South Korea (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Texas Rangers’ Shin-Soo Choo of South Korea (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Texas Rangers outfielder Choo Shin-soo hit his first triple of spring training against the Chicago White Sox after recovering from both ankle and elbow surgeries.

The at-bat resulted in one RBI and was his only hit in three plate appearances.

Choo is in the second year of a seven-year $130 million contract and has a lot of ground to make up after a rocky 2014 season.