A few weeks ago, the Texas Tech baseball team fell in the Gainesville regional to Florida, but one of the best in program history is looking to lead his team in Arlington back to relevance. The Texas Rangers are in the midst of having their best season in a while thanks to Red Raider alum Josh Jung. In his second season with the Rangers, Jung is making Red Raider Nation proud while being one of the top players receiving All-Star Game votes. For Texas Tech alums who are also Ranger fans, this is the best of both worlds.
Jung signed with the Rangers organization in 2019 after being drafted in the first round. He was the first Red Raider to be selected in round one since Barrett Barnes in 2012. He quickly began to make noise with the Arizona League Rangers at the rookie level but suffered two setbacks the next few years.
The cancellation of the 2020 minor league season due to the COVID-19 Pandemic hurt Jung as well as a stress fracture in his foot suffered in 2021. Still, after going to the Frisco Roughriders, he was promoted to the Round Rock Express in AAA, only to suffer another injury, a shoulder injury that forced him to miss most of the 2022 season.
Despite his injury history, the Rangers promoted Jung to the majors in September 2022. In 26 games, he had five home runs and 14 RBIs. Unfortunately, Texas finished 68-94, fourth in the American League West division, marking the sixth consecutive season they failed to make the playoffs.
2023 has been a much better story for Jung and the Rangers though. So far Jung is batting .274, with 16 home runs and 47 RBIs. He was also named AL Rookie of the Month for both April and May. With a start like this and already a favorite to appear in the All-Star game, Jung may very well have a chance to be named Rookie of the Year.
Strong start to the Rookie of the Year campaign. #StraightUpTX pic.twitter.com/4JyqY4YqvN
— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) May 3, 2023
Jung’s success along with the help of four other Rangers receiving All-Star votes has sparked a turnaround in Arlington. The Houston Astros might be the defending champions, but the Rangers are starting to make a name for themselves again. Texas currently leads the AL West and is showing no signs of letting up so far, being 5.5 games up on the Los Angeles Angels with Houston being third in the division, 6 games back (at the time of this post’s submission on Wednesday night).
During his time as a Red Raider Jung was a key member of the 2018 and 2019 squads that advanced all the way to the College World Series. He was also named Big 12 Co-Player of the Year in 2019. When he stepped up to the plate or the team needed a key throw from the infield, Jung always seemed to deliver.
The Rangers drafted Jung hoping he would be everything as advertised in Lubbock. So far in 2023, the organization looks like they hit this one out of the park. Other former Red Raiders such as Chad Bettis and Dallas Braden have had success in the majors and now Jung is looking to add to his own legacy. If the Rangers happen to be playing on TV and fans can tune in to Bally Sports, they might just see a former Red Raider hit another digger.