After not having pitched in nearly three years because of his Korean military obligation Atlanta Braves prospect Jung Sung-ki has been doing some double time in the Arizona Fall League for the Peoria Javelinas.

A late addition to the roster Jung has generally preformed well for the first place Javelinas, mostly working in a setup role. He’s appeared in six games, going seven innings, allowing two runs, good for a 2.57 ERA.

Both runs came in a Oct. 18 game versus the Phoenix Devil Dogs when Jung gave up a 2-run HR, and four hits in an inning of work. Outisde of that game Jung is off to a fine start, keeping his K/9 at one or above, which he’s generally done throughout his career.

Should Jung should have a productive fall league it could go a long way in helping him get a shot at being called up to Atlanta in late 2008. Most likely he’ll start in Class AA Mississippi, and barring any trouble there, will be promoted to AAA Richmond. 

In a recent poll conducted by the Braves blog Talking Chop, Jung was voted the No. 25 prospect in the Braves organization. Another Braves blog specifically dedicated to Atlanta’s minor league system failed to mention him in a recent Top 20 Braves Prospects piece.

But if you simply look at Jung’s stats over his minor league career you’d assume he’d figure into any organizational Top 20 or Top 15 list:

Year Team Level IP SV BB SO ERA WHIP
2004 Rome -A 67 18 26 83 2.15 1.22
2007 M.Beach +A 39 22 12 49 1.15 0.87
2007 Mississippi AA 9 1 1 8 1.92 1.07

Then again, the city Jung hails from (Yeosu) is spelled in all kinds of strange letter combinations and his name often appears with or without the Ki (기).

It could be he’s still a bit under the radar. Maybe people think he’s from North Korea.