Texas Rangers No. 2 prospect Josh Jung will reportedly start an injury rehabilitation assignment on Thursday, the first step in him resuming his work to try and join the Majors.
Jung will reportedly start taking at-bats at designated hitter in Arizona Complex League games, per The Dallas Morning News. After a week, the hope is that the Rangers can assign Jung to an affiliate to continue his rehabilitation, per The Athletic.
The Rangers’ first-round pick of 2019 had another injury setback in February, as he had surgery to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder. The expectation was that it would take Jung approximately six months to recover and be able to hit in games. Per that timeline, he’s right on schedule.
“This is a tough break for Josh,” Rangers general manager Chris Young said via conference call in February. “Given his character and work ethic, we’re fully confident Josh will make a full recovery and bounce back from this. Obviously, it’s not the best news today.”
The Rangers had hoped Jung would compete for the starting third base job this spring. With him on the shelf, the Rangers have played several young players at the position, including current Rangers Ezequiel Duran and Josh Smith.
Josh’s brother, Jace, was the No. 12 overall pick of the Detroit Tigers earlier this month.
Josh Jung missed about eight weeks due to a stress fracture in 2021. But he has hit well in the minors during his time with the Rangers, including batting slashing .308/.366/.544 with 10 home runs and 40 RBI over 43 games with Double-A Frisco last season. That earned him a promotion to Triple-A Round Rock, where he batted 348/.436/.652 with nine home runs, 21 RBI and 14 doubles in 35 games.
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