How will Rangers replace Jung?
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ARLINGTON — The Rangers had six All-Stars in Seattle this season. As of Monday, 4 of them have endured an IL stint because the break: Josh Jung, Corey Seager, Nathan Eovaldi and Jonah Heim.
Seager is already again from a thumb pressure. Heim (left wrist tendon pressure) is progressing nicely and Eovaldi (proper forearm pressure) may nonetheless doubtlessly return in September. Now Rangers rookie third baseman Jung finds himself on the 10-day IL with a thumb fracture that can require surgical procedure and sideline him for about six weeks, based on supervisor Bruce Bochy.
Jung has began 107 of Texas’ 112 video games, leads all MLB rookies with 22 homers and is slashing .274/.323/.489. It seemingly is a tough gap to fill, however the Rangers have confronted comparable circumstances many instances this season. When Jacob deGrom went down, Dane Dunning stepped up within the rotation. Both instances Seager went down, Ezequiel Duran stepped up. With Heim sidelined at present, Mitch Garver has continued his scorching streak.
This time, three younger infielders must step up in Jung’s absence: Duran, Josh H. Smith and Jonathan Ornelas.
“We’ll mix it up,” Bochy mentioned. “Duran, Smitty, Ornelas, we’ll see where we’re at. Defense is gonna be an important part of this. So Zeke has not played a lot of third base over there. So we’ve gotta get him ready to play there quite a bit. Johnny did not play a lot of third base in Round Rock, but he’ll be getting some work there. We’re aware that he needs time there. And Smitty, we’re fine with. We’ll just do the matchup thing.”
A pure center infielder, Duran has turn out to be a high quality utility participant with the Rangers center infield locked up for the foreseeable future. In his two years within the large leagues, Duran has performed 55 video games at third base, 36 at shortstop, 26 in left subject, 13 at second base, two at first base and one in proper subject, together with a begin at shortstop on Monday.
In Seager’s first IL stint from April 12-May 17 with a left hamstring pressure, Duran began the majority of the video games at shortstop. In 29 video games (26 begins) when Seager was on the IL, Duran slashed .303/.339/.532 with six house runs and 21 RBIs.
“It shows you the value of somebody like Duran,” Bochy said. “We lost Seager, and he goes to shortstop and plays a great short and along with swinging the bat well to soften that blow. This is what we need these guys to do with Josh Jung going down. They need to help soften the blow by not having Josh.”
Similarly, Smith — a pure shortstop — has slid right into a utility position. In elements of two large league seasons, he’s performed 42 in left subject, 42 at third base, 33 at shortstop, 14 at DH and 5 at second base. Smith is hitting .213 with a .689 OPS in 62 large league video games this season.
Texas’ No. 14 prospect, per MLB Pipeline, Ornelas started honing in on his versatility earlier than his Monday callup. The Rangers’ 2022 Minor League Defender of the Year, Ornelas has performed 64 video games this 12 months at his main place of shortstop, and added 14 at second base, seven in heart subject and 4 at third base.
After a breakout season at Double-A Frisco in 2022, wherein he slashed .299/.360/.425 and was added to the 40-man roster this previous winter, Ornelas misplaced a little bit of pop with Triple-A Round Rock. In 88 video games with the Express, he’s hitting .250 with a .708 OPS, however little doubt supplies the defensive flexibility and velocity the Rangers need from a utility infielder.
It’s not each day {that a} staff can exchange an All-Star third baseman with three different former prime 30 prospects, together with a man with an .796 OPS in Duran. The Rangers are in a superb place, they usually’ve overcome adversity because it pertains to accidents so many instances all through the season already.
Bochy believes they’ll do it once more.
“I can’t say enough about how they dealt with some adversity, how they responded to tough games or injuries, how they had the ability to not focus on what happened, you know, focus forward,” Bochy mentioned. “These guys have been so good all year. And they understand you’re gonna have to deal with some things during the course of the season. You don’t have, as I say, a choice but to deal with it and that’s by going out there and continuing the focus forward.”
MLB.com’s Sonja Chen contributed to the reporting.
