The Rangers announced today that they have reinstated infielder Jake Burger from the 10-day injured list. Fellow infielder Josh Jung has been optioned to Triple-A Round Rock as the corresponding move, the first time in his career he’s been optioned to the minors.
The move highlights what a tough time Jung has been having of late. Since the calendar flipped to June, he has produced an awful .158/.208/.221 slash line in 101 plate appearances. His 19 wRC+ in that time is the third-worst mark in the majors, ahead of just Brenton Doyle and Michael Harris II.
“He keeps working, but I don’t know what else to tell you,” manager Bruce Bochy said this week, per Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News. “If it’s, you know, another break, and you have to do it, it’s a performance-based game, as we always say. We’ve got to find a way to score runs. … We do have some options if we have to give a guy a break.”
The lack of performance was naturally not lost on Jung himself. “I haven’t been very good,” he said on Monday, per Grant. “It’s been the worst [month] ever. I’m just trying to stay in my routine and make adjustments. It’s a daily grind, daily battle, but I’m doing everything I can. It’s frustrating. It’s hard. But this game isn’t easy. It’s just me versus me right now.”
Grant also relays that the club wants Jung to work on fastballs up-and-in, a pitch that he hasn’t been able to lay off of, with one of the worst rates in the majors for swinging at such pitches outside the strike zone.
It’s a stark contrast to Jung’s previous work. The eighth overall pick in the 2019 draft, Jung got a cup of coffee in the majors in 2022. He got a fuller opportunity in 2023 and ran with it, hitting .266/.315/.467 in 122 games. He then hit .308/.329/.538 in 17 postseason games, helping the Rangers win their first title in franchise history. Last year, a right wrist fracture limited him to 46 games but he still put up a stout .264/.298/.421 line when on the field. Here in 2025, he was doing fine before the month of June, as he was sporting a .277/.321/.440 line at the end of May.
It seems possible that the book is out on him, which has led to his aforementioned struggles with those up-and-in fastballs. That’s been one part of a larger team-wide lack of offense this year, as the Rangers have a collective .228/.296/.366 batting line. Their 87 wRC+ is only better than four teams: the Royals, Pirates, White Sox and Rockies. Ezequiel Durán played third last night and is in there again tonight. He’s been even worse than Jung, with a .145/.229/.226 line this year, but the Rangers are probably hoping that Jung can quickly find his form and retake the job.
How that plays out could impact the club’s deadline plans. They are currently 42-44 and 2.5 games back of a playoff spot in the American League. If they can hang in the race and Jung is still struggling, perhaps the club would look to external third base options, or they could perhaps move Josh Smith over to the hot corner and leave Burger in charge of first base. That would open the designated hitter spot for the return of Joc Pederson or someone else on the roster. There are a few moving pieces there and the situation could change in a few different ways in the coming weeks.
For Jung personally, the length of this rehab assignment could impact him professionally. He came into this year with two years and 27 days of service time. By my count, he has added 97 days so far this year, getting him to 2.124. That’s 48 days shy of the three-year mark. If he’s recalled by the middle of August, he could still get over the three-year line before the offseason. If not, then his path to free agency would be pushed by a year. As of now, he may have enough service time to qualify for arbitration as a Super Two player, depending on where this year’s cutoff ultimately falls. Any service time he could add later in the year would increase his chances of qualifying for arb, while hitting the three-year line would guarantee it.
Photos courtesy of Jerome Miron and Kevin Jairaj, Imagn Images
His stats aren’t great but still I am little surprised was his defense bad.
Defense was fine. He had a .429 ops in June
Oh this makes more sense now yikes!
Giving away too many at bats. Just not comfortable at the plate.
He’s still very Jung. He’ll be back soon.
A+ cover photo for this article lol
He’s not the only Texas Ranger that forgot how to hit.
Can I ask a question of Ranger fans? What’s your current take on where Semien is, these days? Seems to me, that he’s been back in form? Thank you in advance.
Semien seems to have snapped out of it. His OPS for the month of June was .932. Let’s hope he can keep it up.
One thing you can always be sure of with Marcus Semien is that nobody will work harder than him.
Lucked/bought their way into a World Series which is fine in itself, but they didn’t build the culture or system that it takes to win consistently and that was work that should have been happening the whole time. Jung is just an easy scapegoat at this point.
Awful take. They hit on all cylinders and were healthy.
Langford, Carter, Jung, Leiter, Rocker, Taveras. Those are the only guys in major roles over the last 3 seasons that the Rangers developed. It was a great team in 2023. The franchise is weak though.
Developing two players a year is pretty good for any team.
Unpopular opinion but I agree. They went far beyond what they are capable of payroll wise and went nuts, signing a very expensive infield and making so many rotation additions. The young guys didn’t progress and now we’re here.
Their front office made all the right moves to bring a World Series to Texas. How is that luck? If they bought a World Series then what’s the point of free agency? That’s what you’re supposed to do with it.
I was agreeing more with they bought a World Series. It was cool to see a different team but if we have that same energy for the Yanks, Mets, Dodgers, and Padres, a team that signed/traded for nearly 6 starting pitchers did kinda the same thing. Not that it’s horrible or anything it just gets overlooked.
Keep in mind the Rangers were like a single game away from not making the playoffs that year. It was a great run in the playoffs, but they were a bad bounce or two away from never making it.
Swept the Rays. Swept the Orioles. Beat the Astros in seven. Beat the Diamondbacks in five.
They went and took it. Don’t minimize a great run and a World Series victory.
This was not on my ouija board, tarot card, or even bingo card for 2025. The dude looks like a major-leaguer.
If you look over time, the young players that burst onto the scene and then majorly regress are usually the ones with bad eyes at the plate.
This happens often with guys who have good numbers except for a low walk rate.
Not really a surprise. The Rangers offense has started to look better – 54 runs in the last eleven games – but Jung has continued to stink it up at the plate. He was the odd man out, and the Rangers have Carter and Burger coming back.
You shouldn’t count the last 3 versus the Orioles AA pitchers.
Burger is no upgrade to replace Jung.
Very overrated.
I’m obviously not a Rangers fan, but they have fallen off a cliff after winning the WS. I guess it was a one year wonder. Good thing they played Arizona easy WS. Any chance they sell at the TD. Trade Seager, Garcia, DeGrom, etc??
Texas is only two and a half games out of a wild card, and the offense is showing signs of waking up. I don’t think they’re planning on a sell-off right now. Seager and deGrom aren’t going anywhere under any circumstances. Maybe Garcia if July is a disaster.
Doubtful in regard to trading Seager and DeGrom. Not sure who wants those contracts on their books. Rangers would have to eat a lot of money or include prospects if trying to unload those two contracts. I see Garcia getting dealt depending on where the Rangers are at in the standings come the trade deadline.
Peg2 — I dunno about Seager, but I think there are 29 teams that would take deGrom.
No, there may be a few, but half the teams wouldn’t want to take on the salary, including some big market teams that are up against a tax threshold. Others won’t want to give up the prospects.
He’s hurt all the time to get any consistency at the plate, he has All Star potential
Them Jung brothers aren’t having a great 2025
At least Jace is 3 years Junger
Ship Josh over to the Tigers and maybe they will play better together next year. Torres is on a one year deal…Jace can play 2B and Josh at 3B.
And the Tigers would have the worst infield defense ever seen, at least since the Miggy & Prince at the corners years
Sure! They’d make a great infield in Toledo!
Second big hurdle he has to overcome. Very worrisome June.
He’ll be fine. They did the same with Burger. Evan started out in the year In the minors. He looks aight. Problem is, this team isn’t clicking. Should be averaging 5/6 runs a game. They’ll be buyers bc the WC is up for grabs but Houston isn’t losing much
Trade him to Detroit for his brother
If Josh relearns how to hit, he should teach his brother, who has struggled, as well.
Watched Josh at Texas Tech and then with Rangers so it’s a bit of a shock, but if there’s ever a year you won’t stand out working on a hole in your swing in minor leagues, its this year’s Rangers.
Also seems a good time to pitch myself as hitting coach. Do I know what I’m doing? No, but maybe that is an asset and just what the team needs, like in a sports movie where the random person holds the key to unlocking talent with an out of the box way of seeing things. “Embrace being optioned down. Hitting is like Rambo 2, you have to go back to where it all started and blow everything up to move forward. Also, that Triple A coach knows what the heck he’s talking about.”
Looking at Brenton Doyle’s defensive regression is also pretty alarming. (He was listed as three of the guys having a poor offensive showing in June).
INVESTIGATE THE 2023 RANGERS. EVERY HITTER HAS CATEGORICALLY REGRESSED TREMENDOUSLY SINCE THEN.
Carl’s great grandson. Good luck guy!
Boo, now need a replacement on the fantasy squad
All those wrist surgeries & injuries derailed a solid career
He’s more Steve Buechele than Dean Palmer