Josh Jung went from feeling pretty certain he wouldn’t play at all this season to finally becoming the Texas Rangers starting third baseman in about six months.
But he wasn’t totally sure he was ready until he had to dive for a baseball at Triple-A Round Rock. Call it the last hurdle before feeling whole again.
“Once I did it, and I pushed off the ground and got up I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m good,’” Jung said Thursday during a short open locker room session. “I just hadn’t had to dive yet, or dive a lot, I guess. But, yeah, I’m going to do it all.”
“All” in this case means hitting and fielding, as the No. 1 prospect expects to start at third base against the Toronto Blue Jays in his Major League debut.
That was not his expectation in February when he tore the labrum in his non-throwing shoulder during spring training. Both he and the Rangers felt he would take on an Opening Day role at the position.
“It went from literally probably not playing all year and just doing some stuff in the offseason to, okay, DH, and then, okay, let’s play third,” Jung said.
Jung gave the credit to the Rangers rehabilitation staff that worked with him in Arizona after his surgery. The Rangers said Jung’s recovery would take about six months, and he stayed on track.
He said his shoulder is now stronger than it’s ever been. In week 16 post-surgery, Jung finally started swinging a bat, and he noticed the difference then.
“Then the conversation started changing a little bit,” Jung said.
On July 28, the Rangers sent Jung to their Arizona Complex League team for some rehab at-bats. He quickly went from just being a DH to playing third and hit .240 with three home runs and five RBI in eight games and 25 at-bats. That was enough to get the Rangers to send him to Triple-A Round Rock, where Jung hit .348 with nine home runs and 21 RBI last season.
He joined the Express on Aug. 9 and started hitting tape-measure home runs with regularity. He finished with a .273 average, six home runs and 24 RBI. He hit five home runs in his first eight games and started teasing Rangers fans with an early call-up.
On Sept. 1, Jung said he thought he might get a call-up as rosters began to expand. He said he wasn’t disappointed. In fact, he said it motivated him. But that motivation contributed to a downturn in his numbers just before his call-up.
“For me in my head it was like, ‘OK, do more,’ and trying to do more led to me doing way less,” Jung said.
Jung tried to block out the expectations of others. He deleted his Twitter a couple of weeks ago. He wants his focus on the field and not on the conversation surrounding him.
“I think the biggest trap for athletes in general is thinking that everybody has these super-high expectations, and trying to meet every single person’s expectations,” Jung said. “For me, it’s about setting goals for myself and then just try to accomplish them one at a time.”
The first goal was getting to the Rangers. On Friday, he can check that off.
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