Texas Rangers Five-Year Plan at Third Base Features Just One Player

The Texas Rangers roster is made up of a combination of both young talent and established veterans getting past their prime, but one position that is set for the near future is third base.

Bleacher Report's Joel Reuter recently put together an examination of each team's five-year plan at the hot corner.

For the Rangers, only one player seems is set to be the guy in that time span; Josh Jung.

He is a rising star that already has an All-Star nod to his name with just over two years of service time.

He was Texas's first round pick back in 2019, No. 8 overall after a nice career with the Texas Tech Red Raiders. He spent a couple of years in the minors before making his debut in 2022.

His first full campaign came in 2023 and it was all they could have asked for. He posted a .266/.315/.467 slash line with 23 home runs and 70 RBI.

If he wasn't a part of an incredible rookie class that included Gunnar Henderson and Tanner Bibee, Jung could have made a run at the AL Rookie of the Year award. The Rangers youngster ended up finishing fourth, though.

Jung has some clear weaknesses in his game, mostly his plate discipline, but he is good enough elsewhere to balance it out.

His last campaign was a bit disappointing, though. He got injured just a couple of games into the year and ended up just appearing 46 times.

The 27-year-old had a .264/.298/.421 slash line with seven home runs and 16 RBI.

If he could cut down on his strikeouts and maybe draw a few more walks, he could realistically become a perennial All-Star.

There's no reason to think he won't be starting at third for the next five seasons, because that also just so happens to be the extent of his team control.

A couple of younger players could be in line for the job after him.

Reuter gave a nod to 18-year-old prospect Yolfran Castillo as the future starter at that position.

Castillo was an international signing out of Venezuela who slashed .377/.482/.415 with 10 stolen bases over 35 games.

Texas' top prospect, Sebastian Walcott, could also end up at third. He seems headed down the path of an outfielder, though.

Both of those guys are 18, which does put them on the right timeline to be ready for full time MLB jobs by the time that Jung is wrapping up his team control years.

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