Texas Tech baseball: Red Raiders get the season started with a win
Jace Jung impresses at third base
It felt right to look at the lineup card for Texas Tech and see J. Jung at third base. But when J. Jung came to the plate and hit left-handed, that took some getting used to.
True freshman Jace Jung made his first career start at third base on Friday, the position where his older brother Josh rose to stardom for the Red Raiders over the last three seasons. It won’t be fair to compare the newest Jung in Lubbock to his older brother, the No. 8 overall pick in last summer’s MLB Draft, but the fact that they look so similar and have such similar names makes the comparison all the more natural.
What stood out about Jung’s performance wasn’t his work at the plate, where he was 2-3 with an RBI, a walk, and a strikeout. Rather, it was his steady play at the hot corner.
Jung had four opportunities in the field today and he was flawless on all of them. On a day when the weather made gripping a baseball rather tough, he showed a strong arm from across the diamond and made a couple of nice throws while moving in on the baseball.
Playing third in college is tough given how fast the ball gets down the line off the metal bat. If Jung can prove to be a lockdown defender at that position, it will be a huge development for Tech.
Last year, we saw that defensive woes at shortstop necessitated Josh Jung’s move from third to short but short is not a concern right now because Miami transfer Cal Conley has a reputation for being a smooth fielder in the middle of the diamond. Thus, if Jung can lock down third, he’s going to give the team a solid defensive tandem on the left side of the infield.
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It will also keep other players like Dru Baker and Dylan Noise free to play wherever needed as both are extremely versatile fielders who can play both in the outfield and across the diamond. Obviously, we’ll be keeping an eye on how the second coming of J. Jung handles the bat, but don’t overlook what he does in the field because that’s going to be a critical component of the 2020 season.