PHOENIX — Josh Jung hits third and plays third base Saturday, seven weeks after a left calf strain took him out of the Texas Rangers lineup. How long he stays on the field each night is something Rangers manager Skip Schumaker would not pin down, telling Rangers Sports Network the Rangers will take him however they can get him.
“We have 15 or so days left. And so we are looking forward to having JJ back, whether that’s every day, nine innings, seven innings, pinch run,” Schumaker said. “We need to. It’s kind of all hands on deck right now, and we’re just happy to have him. He was arguably our best hitter when he got hurt, so to be able to write his name in the lineup today was huge.”
What Josh Jung Was Doing Before the Injury
July 21 was Jung’s last game. Four days after that, Texas put him on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to July 22.
Through 92 games he hit .294/.361/.441 with 9 home runs, 23 doubles, and 35 RBI, and his 133 OPS+ still leads the Rangers regulars.
At Round Rock, where the rehab assignment started Sept. 8, he took the first two games at designated hitter and got three hits. He homered for the Express on Sept. 10. Before signing off on the activation, Schumaker wanted to see him handle third base, and he laid out five innings in the field Thursday and seven on Friday, in comments he gave reporters including Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News.
The Roster Move That Made Room
Along with Jung, Texas activated Nathan Eovaldi on Saturday and sent Logan O’Hoppe and Adam Macko to Round Rock. Both returning players already held 40-man spots.
Against left-handers, O’Hoppe had been the designated hitter opposite Joc Pederson, and he went 5-for-16 with a double and an RBI over nine games there. With Kyle Higashioka still on the 10-day list with a right flexor strain, the catching falls to Elias Díaz and Danny Jansen.
To fit Jung into the third spot, Schumaker moved Wyatt Langford down to sixth. Kumar Rocker pitches against Diamondbacks right-hander Brandon Pfaadt at 7:10 p.m. CT on Rangers Sports Network.
