A brief note on Jung-Ho Kang and how the Dodgers use spray chart data.

Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Jung-Ho Kang is batting .295 this season and is making noise in the National League Rookie of the Year race. Kang is 28 years old and had been playing professionally in Korea since 2006 before signing with the Pirates prior to this season.

Still, there isn’t a wealth of major league data on him.

Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis said before today’s game that this doesn’t mean the Dodgers will shift Kang more conservatively. The infielders will shift according to the data, even if there isn’t much data to go on.

For what it’s worth, this spray chart shows that Kang is mostly a pull hitter. A right-handed batter, Kang has put four balls in play against the Dodgers this series — three up the middle and one to right field. It looked like the Dodgers had him shaded properly in the third inning, when shortstop Jimmy Rollins gunned him down on a ground ball up the middle.

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About J.P. Hoornstra

J.P. Hoornstra covers the Dodgers, Angels and Major League Baseball for the Orange County Register, Los Angeles Daily News, Long Beach Press-Telegram, Torrance Daily Breeze, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pasadena Star-News, San Bernardino Sun, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Whittier Daily News and Redlands Daily Facts. Before taking the beat in 2012, J.P. covered the NHL for four years. UCLA gave him a degree once upon a time; when he graduated on schedule, he missed getting Arnold Schwarzenegger's autograph on his diploma by five months.