ARLINGTON, Texas — Ever since Hall of Fame-bound Adrian Beltre retired after the 2018 season, the Texas Rangers had been hard pressed to find a steady solution at third base.
Certainly nobody could immediately fill the immense shoes of inarguably the most joyful player of the modern era, but having stability at a premium defensive position with a powerful bat that is required of the hot corner was proving a difficult ask for a franchise that has enjoyed a strong lineage at third base.
After Beltre retired, the Rangers went through Asdrubal Cabrera, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Brock Holt, Charlie Culberson, and Andy Ibanez in Beltre’s stead with no long term answers found. Of course, they were all keeping the position warm for a first-round pick from Texas Tech who was selected the first summer that the Rangers experienced life without Beltre.
After much promise and many injury hiccups, Josh Jung debuted as part of the September roster expansion in 2022. 2023 was the year that he was expected to take hold of a big league job and help the team transition to become contenders. Call it mission accomplished.
2023 Opening Day Starting Third Baseman: Josh Jung
2024 Projected Opening Day Third Baseman: Josh Jung
Jung was supposed to start his big league career essentially a whole year earlier, but he was beset by a shoulder injury early in 2022. After getting his feet wet in the majors later that summer, Jung enjoyed a strong camp last spring to claim the third base job and he certainly wasted no time making an impression on not just the Rangers, but the rest of Major League Baseball.
During a time when the Rangers went 35-20 over the season’s first two months, the offense, and really the whole team, was clicking on all cylinders. As a whole, the Texas offense scored a league-leading 346 runs. Jung, for his part, drove in 37 of those runs and crossed the plate himself 28 times.
There were some concerns about Jung’s MLB viability after he slashed just .204/.235/.418 in a 26-game cup of coffee at the tail end of the 2022 season. Jung, however, put those doubts to rest early as he looked more like the top prospect who shot through the system in just 153 career minor league games.
Slashing .270/.324/.500 over the first month of the season, and an unbelievable .318/.357/.561 in May, Jung entrenched himself in the middle of Bruce Bochy’s lineup and gave the Rangers a coveted solidified home grown talent to pair with purchased infielders Marcus Semien and Corey Seager. For his efforts, Jung earned the distinction of being the second Texas Ranger in history (along with Nomar Mazara) to earn back-to-back Rookie of the Month honors.
Jung, along with the rest of the team, wouldn’t maintain that torrid pace throughout the whole summer, but Jung was still among the top rookies in the league and was even elected as the starting third baseman of the All-Star Game in his first season.
Jung’s claim as the league’s top newcomer was ultimately derailed when a sharp line drive broke his thumb in August, sidelining him until the middle of September. The 37-game absence allowed Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson to leapfrog Jung and take the Rookie of the Year award.
But the Rangers had other things on the mind rather than offseason hardware. They were in the middle of a pennant race and needed Jung to get back in the lineup. However, a dismal couple of weeks upon returning left Jung a bit of an afterthought as Texas limped into the playoffs as a Wild Card combatant.
Ultimately, though, Jung found his stroke again in the postseason. Over 17 games in the playoffs, the rookie third baseman posted a slash line of .308/.329/.538 with three homers, eight RBI and 13 runs scored. His best performance came in Game 3 of the ALCS against Houston, a game the Rangers would ultimately end up losing; in that game, Jung went 2-for-4 with two homers and four RBI. In the World Series, Jung tied with Semien for the team lead with seven hits in the five-game set.
But it wasn’t just at the plate where Jung made a difference. One of the knocks on Jung coming up was that his glove would lag behind his bat. The scouting expectation was that Jung could hold his own at the hot corner but would likely fall short of being an asset. However, over the course of the year, Jung proved to be better than advertised. He registered a very decent 5 Outs Above Average with an Ultimate Zone Rating (taking into account arm, range and errors) of 6.8, a mark that was good enough for 13th best in all of baseball regardless of position.
Last year before the season started, Jung said his goal was to make his defense “boring,” meaning that he would make the simple plays on the balls hit to him. That strategy was sound as Jung made the routine plays and was often anything but boring. And while he didn’t receive consideration for Gold Glove in a strong class of third baseman, there’s no doubt that Jung’s defense became another strong suit for the now-established young player.
Going into 2024, Jung arrived early at Surprise in an attempt to hone his craft and make improvements going into his second full season. Unfortunately, he strained his calf in the first days of camp and will miss most of spring training while the injury heals, though he has resumed baseball activities already.
Injuries have been a story for Jung, as he missed time in a couple of his seasons on the farm and now with the big league squad. He’s expected to be ready for Opening Day, but it continues a string of bad luck, dating back to the year he was supposed to make his debut. In 2022, he broke his labrum, sidelining him for much of what was expected to be his debut season.
Last year, of course, the fractured thumb in August took him out for the stretch run. That thumb, held together with screws, is reportedly only now getting back to full strength. Options for Texas at the hot corner should Jung be delayed or go down again include Ezequiel Duran and Josh Smith, players who stepped in for Jung last August.
Staying healthy will be the next step. Regardless, the impression was made, not just during the playoffs, but over the whole season, and the message is clear: Josh Jung is the Texas Rangers’ third baseman of the present and future.
Do you think Josh Jung will earn a Gold Glove in 2024? Share your thoughts with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.
