WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Let’s pause and take stock of the life and times of Texas Rangers third baseman Josh Jung in, oh, the last two months of baseball.
Jung, a 27-year-old former All-Star who’d only been slowed by injuries prior to this season, was optioned to Triple-A Round Rock in early July after an inability to produce offensively derailed him for the first time in his professional career. He returned to the major leagues in late July and surged for two weeks before the Rangers effectively benched him in a critical mid-August stretch for the same performance-related reasons.
He returned to the lineup on an every-day basis one week ago after an onslaught of injuries to important position players piled up.
Now he’s at the center of the team’s resurgence.
Rangers
“You can’t control what happens to you,” Jung said Saturday night inside of a minor league clubhouse that now masquerades as a big league locker room, “but you can control how you respond.”
Consider that the unofficial Rangers slogan at this point. The Rangers beat the Athletics 9-3 at Sutter Health Park to win for a seventh time in their last eight games and to pull within 2 ½ games of the third American League Wild Card spot.
They’ve done so despite a laundry list of serious injuries to core players that’ve forced makeshift lineups that produce nonetheless. They’ve done so, in part, because Jung has rediscovered the kind of form that once suggested he’d be a cornerstone franchise player.
Jung, in the midst of his worst offensive season as a big leaguer, has slashed .347/.385/.490 in his last 15 games and .517/.533/.724 in his last seven games. He’s recorded at least one hit in seven consecutive games, six of which the Rangers have one, and carded his third-straight three-hit game in Saturday’s win.
He singled and scored vs. Athletics right-hander Mason Burnett as part of a three-run second inning and hit a two-out double in the third to score left fielder Wyatt Langford to give the Rangers a 4-0 lead. In the seventh, with designated hitter Joc Pederson on second base, he hit another two-out double off of left-hander Sean Newcomb to put Texas up 6-2.
“It’s baseball, right?” Jung said. “It’s been an up-and-down roller coaster. I made a couple of adjustments and it feels good. I’m going up there competing. I feel like I’m battling. I’m hitting some pitches that normally I don’t and they’re finding some holes right now.”
In regards to the roller coaster: Jung slashed just .158/.208/.221 and developed worrisome tendencies in June, a month that he categorized as the worst of his career, before the Rangers optioned him to the minor leagues for a reset on July 2. He returned July 21 and slashed .367/.424/.567 in his first nine games back at the major league level.
Another slump struck in August when, in his first 11 games of the month, he slashed just .179/.238/.308 and posted a below-average strikeout rate (28.6%) despite an above-average chase rate (29.2%) for his standards. It forced the Rangers to pull him from the starting lineup in four consecutive games against the Toronto Blue Jays and Kansas City Royals.
He acknowledged “differences” in philosophy at the time of his assignment to the bench. Rangers manager Bruce Bochy, when asked about that on 105.3 The Fan earlier this month, downplayed that notion. Jung returned to the starting lineup last Friday vs. the Cleveland Guardians — one day after second baseman Marcus Semien suffered a sprain and fracture in his left foot against the Royals — and went hitless before he started his current seven-game streak the next day.
“He’s handled it well,” Bochy said Saturday. “I know, initially, it’s tough for these guys. Especially [because] he’s been our third baseman with success that he’s helped us have going back to ‘23. I’m sure that’s frustrating on [him], but what’s important, don’t compound the situation. Handle it, de-clutter your head so to speak, and he’s done a great job of that.”
Jung made “a couple of adjustments” to his swing, including a tweak to his setup, but largely credits his recent play to the fact that he’s seen the ball better now than he had prior. He’s lowered his strikeout rate to 20% in the last week and has maintained a chase rate below his career average.
That’s led to a 57.9% hard hit percentage that’s well-above his career average and significant success and selection against off-speed and breaking pitches. He entered Saturday with a .533/.533/.733 line and just a 28% whiff rate on the 43 non-fastballs that he’d seen since last Saturday’s win vs. the Guardians.
“For me, it’s responding in the right way, and competing,” Jung said. “That’s really all it is. Just go out there — I love to compete — and compete and give it everything you’ve got.”
The Rangers need that now more than ever.
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