Josh Jung coming off rookie season as All-Star starter, World Series champion
Josh Jung was on track to contend strongly for the American League rookie of the year award last season until he suffered a broken thumb in early August and missed 37 games.
So much for that honor. The Texas Rangers' third baseman finished fourth in the voting.
"Oh, well," Jung said Tuesday during an appearance at the annual First Pitch Luncheon in Lubbock.
He wound up with something more memorable. The former Texas Tech all-American returned to the Rangers' lineup with two weeks left in the 2023 regular season and now has the distinction of being a starter on the franchise's first World Series champion.
On stage Tuesday at the Memorial Civic Center, the World Series trophy sat between Jung and emcee Emily Jones.
"Individual awards are cool. They're awesome for your career, but doing things like this," Jung said, gesturing to the trophy, "you make memories that you're going to remember forever. Especially being the first team to win a World Series (with) Texas, that whole team is just bonded. ... Because you're on that run together, you just create all those memories. You have all the team dinners. You have all that stuff to look back on."
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Josh Jung, Texas Rangers took hard road to World Series title
The Rangers did it the hard way. After leading the American League West Division for much of the season, they blew the lead on the final day, forcing them into the wild-card round. Texas swept the 99-win Tampa Bay Rays and the 101-win Baltimore Orioles, earning a spot in the AL championship series against the defending league and World Series champion Houston Astros. The visiting team won every game in the seven-game series, the Rangers rallying from a three-games-to-two deficit to take the last two games in Houston.
Then they beat the Arizona Diamondbacks in five games in the World Series.
"It was all crazy, especially how the regular season ended," Jung said. "Our second half wasn't great. We lost the division there the last game of the year, lost three of four in Seattle and flying all the way to Tampa, knowing you have to get through three juggernauts to even get to the World Series. And then to finish on top was just unbelievable."
Jung batted .286 with three home runs and eight runs batted in in the postseason. He had seven hits in the World Series.
On a team with not much playoff experience, shortstop Corey Seager was an exception. Seager was the World Series MVP on the Los Angeles Dodgers' 2020 title team, and he duplicated both feats in the Rangers' run.
"Going into the postseason, Seager was like, 'You want the easiest road possible to try to win the World Series, because everything needs to line up,' " Jung said. "And then we end up having to take the hardest road — through Tampa, Baltimore and Houston — just to get there. The way it all worked out was just ... wow."
Ex-Texas Tech star Josh Jung updates priorities for 2024
Jung said he's still rehabbing the broken thumb that required surgery.
"We're just trying to get the inflammation out of there," he said, "but range of motion-wise, I'm fine. Strength-wise, it's fine. It's just waiting for it to get normal again."
The Rangers selected Jung eighth overall in the 2019 draft. After a 26-game Major League debut in 2022, Jung experienced his first full MLB season last year, batting .266 with 23 homers and 70 RBI. He learned what a grind it can be, so taking care of his body has become a bigger point of emphasis.
Jung was AL rookie of the month in April and May and started the All-Star Game. But the season took its toll.
"You definitely have to make recovery your priority," he said. "You have to. It's just so many games. I think we ended the first half — I don't know if it was 30 (games) in 31 (days) or 29 in 30 — it was just insane. I'd never done that before, and I just know how my body felt going into that All-Star break. It was just like, whoof ... In the postseason, the adrenalin's going, so you don't really feel anything. You might wake up and feel it, but as soon as the lights turned on, it's do or die. Now or never. You've got to go."
One of Jung's other priorities is reducing strikeouts. He fanned 151 times in 515 plate appearances.
During a couple of rough stretches, Tech coach Tim Tadlock got a hold of him.
Jung recalled their conversations as, "He'd just (say), "Hey, you can do it. Don't forget. You're a pretty good hitter. If I need to drive up there and throw BP (batting practice), I will. Just let me know.' It was pretty cool."
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Josh Jung coming off rookie season as All-Star, World Series champion
