Rangers Top 30 Prospect Wraps: Josh Jung

He'll slide off the Rangers' prospect list any day now, but Josh Jung was a force in the short time he played in the minors in 2022.

InsidetheRangers.com will review each of the Texas Rangers’ Top 30 prospects, as ranked by MLB.com at the end of the 2022 season.

No. 1: 3B Josh Jung, Round Rock Express (Triple-A; ended season with Texas Rangers)

Statistics for 2022: Jung batted .266/.326/.540/.866 in 31 minor-league games (33-for-124). He scored 19 runs, had 67 total bases, seven doubles, nine home runs and 29 RBI. He struck out 35 times and walked seven times. He stole one base.

Click here for Jung’s 40-man roster wrap.

Season Transactions: Jung started the season on the injured list due to surgery on his torn labrum. On July 28, the Rangers sent Jung to the Arizona Complex League for a rehab assignment. On Aug. 9, his rehab assignment was transferred to Round Rock. On Sept. 9, the Rangers called him up for his Major League debut.

Season Summary: Jung injured his labrum while lifting weights in February, and he thought, at the time, his season was over. Well, it wasn’t. He rehabbed aggressively and by late July the Rangers were ready to let him take some at-bats with their ACL rookie team in Arizona. He batted just .240 there, but he surprised the Rangers by being able to get back to third base quickly, and after eight games they slid him back to Round Rock, where he ended the 2021 season. He went off with the Express, hitting .273 and hitting six home runs, some of which were tape-measure shots, and was named one of the Rangers’ top minor league players for August. By September, with the season winding down, it was clear the Rangers needed to do something and called him up to begin his MLB career.

Path Through the Organization: The Rangers took Jung No. 8 overall in 2019 out of Texas Tech and signed him for $4.4 million. Injuries partially derailed his progress through the system and to a MLB debut until 2022.

What’s next: The only reason Jung is at the top of the prospect rankings for the Rangers is that he hasn’t played enough games to "graduate" from the rankings. Barring an unfortunate injury between now and 2023, he should graduate at the start of the 2023 season, as the Rangers anticipate him being the Opening-Day third baseman.

2022 Texas Rangers Top 30 Prospect Wraps:

No. 30: Josh Stephan | No. 29: Mason Englert | No. 28: Marc Church | No. 27: Danyer Cueva | No. 26: Alejandro Osuna | No. 25: Zak Kent | No. 24: Dane Acker | No. 23: Avery Weems | No. 22: Emiliano Teodo | No. 21: Jonathan Ornelas | No. 20: Gleider Figuereo | No. 19: Thomas Saggese | No. 18: Maximo Acosta | No. 17: Mitch Bratt | No. 16: Ricky Vanasco | No. 15: Yeison Morrobel | No. 14: Tekoah Roby | No. 13: Antoine Kelly | No. 12: Anthony Gutierrez | No. 11: Aaron Zavala | No. 10 Cole Winn | No. 9: Dustin Harris | No. 8: Kumar Rocker | No. 7: Luisangel Acuna | No. 6: Brock Porter | No. 5: Justin Foscue | No. 4: Owen White | No. 3: Evan Carter | No. 2: Jack Leiter

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You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

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