Rangers’ rookie third baseman Josh Jung will undergo surgery to stabilize a fracture in his left thumb, reports Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (Twitter link). He’s expected to miss roughly six weeks.
Jung broke his thumb when he knocked down a Jorge Soler line drive in last night’s win over Miami. The Rangers placed him on the 10-day injured list today, recalling Jonathan Ornelas for his big league debut in his place. With the injury requiring surgical repair, Texas loses one of its top bats well into next month.
The six-week timetable leaves open the possibility of Jung returning during the regular season. If everything goes well, he could be back for the final two to three weeks of the schedule. Given how tightly contested the AL West is, it’s quite possible that stretch of play could determine the Rangers’ playoff standing. Texas leads the Astros by 2.5 games; they’re in strong position to at least secure a Wild Card berth, but the division would come with the added bonus of a first-round bye (since the AL Central winner is almost certain to be the third seed).
It’s a third straight season with a notable injury for Jung. After a broken foot in 2021, he injured his left shoulder in a weight room accident headed into 2022. That kept him from making his MLB debut until last September and probably contributed to a lackluster .204/.235/.418 showing in his first 26 games. After a healthy offseason, Jung has broken through as a middle-of-the-order presence in Arlington.
The former eighth overall pick owns a .274/.323/.489 line over 461 trips to the dish. While his strikeout and walk marks are middling, he has popped 22 homers. He leads American League rookies in longballs, putting him in strong consideration for Rookie of the Year. That’ll be far more challenging now.
As Ethan Hullihen points out (Twitter links), that could deal another hit to the team. Jung met the prospect criteria — appearing on at least two preseason Top 100 lists at Baseball America, MLB Pipeline and ESPN (he made all three) — for the Prospect Promotion Incentive. The Rangers carried Jung on the active roster from the start of the season. If he were to win Rookie of the Year, he’d net Texas an extra draft choice — as Julio Rodríguez did for the Mariners last season. That isn’t out of the question, but the injury reduces Jung’s chances of nabbing the award.
The more immediate concern, of course, is how to replace Jung at the hot corner. Ezequiel Duran figures to get the bulk of the playing time there. Duran, who has slumped since the All-Star Break following a stellar first half, is hitting seventh and manning third base tonight against Oakland southpaw Ken Waldichuk.
@anthony Franco … how about the Reds recent transactions ????
Ouch. Two pitches, two homers. Poor kid.
It always seems to happen to good players like him, Seager, and deGrom (Yordan on the Astros too), and never guys like Martin Perez.
> As Ethan Hullihen points out (on Twitter),
> that could deal another hit to the team.
> … yadda-yadda-yadda …
> Texas an extra draft choice
I remember you posting this yesterday like 8 hours before this Ethan guy reported it.
#CreditWhereDue
Man, you hate that Martin Perez guy, huh?
I didn’t realize until yesterday that the top 3 finishers getting draft picks part that I had in my mind was only partially valid. The top guy (top 100 on 2 lists and on the OD roster) does get an MLB draft pick, but the other guys get international money, which can literally be traded from teams. That draft is not structured, so I guess this isn’t as bad. He probably wouldn’t beat Henderson for 1, and he may still get something for Texas with the international draft if nobody comes from behind the top 3.
That’s Dung! Can’t believe Josh Jung has Hung them up. He’s too young
Guy should be back to help rake in the playoffs and bring home the Ranger’s first championship. The rest of the AL is mostly junk outside of Baltimore.
New York and Houston are shells of themselves and will be swept out of the playoffs if they make it. I doubt they both make it, though.
Lots of good teams left in the AL outside of Baltimore and TX. Rangers are a juggernaut but not unbeatable. If they slip in the second half and fall into a WC slot somehow, they are in trouble. Just my opinion and I’m often wrong, but the rotation does not impress me.
It doesn’t impress me either. The team gor lucky so far. They have elite talent, but their best player is out this season, and their best hitter has been injured a lot, too. I assumed the worst 10% outcome would be less than 85 wins, so I’m definitely not a pessimist, but I think that while making the playoffs is likely, going deep with this many injuries is hard. Scherzer and Eovaldi are great, but Dunning, Gray, and Heaney are all getting lucky quite a bit.
Don’t forget Monty! In a playoff series I think Heaney is in the pen. So it is probably Eovaldi, Scherzer, Montgomery, Gray. That is pretty good and one would expect one of the best offenses in the AL to pick us up some.
I just realized that! He is their 2nd best pitcher! Eovaldi > Montgomery > Scherzer (as of now, with Scherzer having the most potential)
Also, Corey Seager is God. He has the 2nd highest OPS in baseball, and he is top 10 in most of BA, OBP, SLG, and OPS in the AL and MLB, even when bref adjusts for lack of plate appearances. He could finish 2nd in the MVP race, but I’m annoyed Texas likely lost the real MLB Draft Pick chance and really has to hope for some international money instead.
Honestly the rotation to get them through the 2nd half does impress me. The worries are seager, Heim, and now Jung. The rotation to get them through a round (hopefully with a bye, but I’m aware the astros are right there) does concern me. If it doesn’t contain eovaldi, take that concern and triple it
I agree about New York and they are trending in the wrong direction. Houston just added Altuve, Alverez, Verlander, Graveman and Urquidy so I disagree they are the shell that they were before the trade deadline.
Garcia is lost for the season, but JP France has emerged to bolster the rotation and in terms of WAR he is on pace to match what Garcia gave in 2022. LMJ only appeared in 8 regular season games returning from injury and Brantley was shut down in June 2022.
The only difference between the starters is Abreu replacing Gurriel (who may yet sink the team) unless they only start him in platoon advantages. Houston is close to what they were in 2022 but they are not a shell.
Old York it’s the National League that is overall devoid of talent this year, not the American League. Just look at the Wild Card races and compare/contrast.
Never heard of him
Once an eighth overall pick, always an eighth overall pick.
Farmer John says so….and he ought to know!