Sorry, Texas Rangers fans but this isn’t a late April Fool’s joke.
Rangers’ third baseman Josh Jung has been diagnosed with a fractured right wrist. Jung was hit on the wrist while swinging at a pitch from Tampa Bay Rays’ reliever Phil Maton in the 9th inning of Monday’s game. Jung was in considerable discomfort and was pulled from the game for a pinch hitter, Josh Smith. He was the third consecutive Ranger to be hit by an in explicably wild Maton. Evan Carter and Adolis Garcia were both hit-by-pitch preceding Jung’s at-bat. The Rangers were up 9-3, which would be the final score, when Jung was plunked by the pitch.
The Rangers quickly confirmed Jung suffered a fracture.
Watch: Josh Jung Breaks Wrist in Rangers’ 9-3 Win
ah crap josh jung has a broken wrist pic.twitter.com/i4K8LD4Ofy
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) April 2, 2024
The 26-year-old will immediately go on the injured list for an unspecified amount of time. Jung will undergo further testing on the fractured wrist to determine the best course of recovery. Surgery is not out of the question, reports Rangers’ insider Jeff Wilson. The surgical option would speed up Jung’s recovery time.
The timing of the injury couldn’t be worse for the 2023 American League All-Star. Jung was off to a hot start slashing .412/.474/.941 with two homers, six RBI, one double, and one triple with a 1.415 OPS through the first four games. In fact, Jung launched a 387-foot 1st inning three-run home run on Monday to give Texas an early 3-0 lead. Jung also added an RBI single in the 6th inning to extend the Rangers’ lead to 4-0.
Oh to be Jung again. #StraightUpTX pic.twitter.com/cNe02Jfofb
— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) April 1, 2024
Jung is a bit snakebitten when it comes to injuries.
Is Josh Jung Injury Prone?
Jung has been injured in everyone of his three Major League Baseball seasons. He suffered a torn labrum in 2022 and was limited to just 26 games. He was healthy for most of last season before suffering a fractured thumb in August attempting to catch a Jorge Soler line drive. Prior to his MLB debut, Jung missed most of 2021 Spring Training with a stress fracture to his foot.
So, is Jung injury-prone or is it just a case of bad luck?
Rangers’ manager Bruce Bochy seems to believe it’s the latter:
“I just feel horrible. He’s had such tough luck on this end as far as injuries and puts a damper on this win. Especially the way he was playing, he was carrying us today. He’ll be back. I talked to him briefly. Now this hurts and you know, I feel for the kid because he’s had to deal with so much. It’s gonna be a little while, but he’ll be back.
He’s had some bad luck again. I just told him he will be back. He’s pretty down, as he should be because he was just coming off that calf injury and playing well, swinging the bat well. It’s not easy to have a setback when you’ve had so many of them, but he’s got to keep telling himself he’ll be back. He’s young. He’s going to have a nice long career, and this is just another little setback here for him.”
- Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy on Josh Jung’s injury
The Rangers will likely turn to bench pieces Ezequiel Duran and/or Josh Smith to replace Jung for the foreseeable future. Either player is more than capable in the field, but they do lack some of the pop that Jung was able to provide from the plate. The Rangers will need to make a corresponding roster move once Jung is moved to the injured list.
Stay tuned…
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
