The family of former Texas Tech baseball all-Americans Josh and Jace Jung are looking forward to the weekend of May 9-11. The Jung brothers are both in the big leagues with Josh about to start his fourth season with the Texas Rangers and Jace in position to make the Detroit Tigers‘ roster out of spring training for the first time.
“Mother’s Day is circled on the calendar right now,” Josh Jung said Thursday. “If we’re both in the big leagues, that weekend will be the first time we play each other, in Detroit, so I know my mom’s got that circled and requesting a split jersey already and all that kind of stuff.”
The Jung brothers’ matchup on Mother’s Day weekend comes with the assumption Josh will actually be in uniform. He’s been sidelined by significant injuries each of the past four seasons: foot in 2021, shoulder in 2022, thumb in 2023 and wrist in 2024.
More:Can Josh Jung buy some good luck for a change? | Williams
More:Former Texas Tech baseball star Jace Jung makes MLB debut with Detroit Tigers
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
The subject comes up every January when Jung appears at the annual First Pitch Luncheon at the Memorial Civic Center.
“This is my third or fourth year doing this now,” he said, “and every year we start by talking about injuries.”
Last year’s was arguably the most worrisome of any. The Rangers’ third baseman underwent two surgeries on his fractured right wrist, an injury he suffered when being hit by a pitch in the fourth game of the season. There was the surgery shortly after the injury and another in October to address lingering issues.
In the latter, Jung underwent ECU tendon release surgery. After he’d returned to play in late July, he was bothered by wrist irritation from a healing plate rubbing against the tendon, The Dallas Morning News reported.
“It was kind of scary,” Jung said Thursday. “You never know what you’re going to get with surgery, and then (I was) kind of a guinea pig, clipping that tendon (surgically). People have ruptured it and played without it. No one’s really gotten it cut in the baseball world. There’s been some golfers and tennis players that have.
“To kind of be the guinea pig in the baseball world, I feel great. I can’t be more excited to get back to actually playing baseball and hopefully be pain free, because I’ve been in a really good spot over the last month and a half.”
Jung played in 46 games last season, batting .264 with seven home runs and 16 runs batted in.
He missed Aug. 7 through Sept. 17 of the 2023 season from the broken thumb he suffered catching a line drive. He returned to make a meaningful contribution as the Rangers surged to their first World Series championship. The 23-homer, 70-RBI season had him upbeat going into 2024 before the good vibe was wrecked on April 1.
On a happier note, he got to fly around and watch in person as Jace Jung and the Tigers swept Houston in the first round of the playoffs and lost a divisional series against Cleveland. The young Tigers infielder made his Major League debut on Aug. 16, playing in 34 regular-season games and two in the playoffs.
The Rangers finished 78-84. Their key off-season additions corner infielder Jake Burger, who’s hit 63 homers the past two seasons with the Chicago White Sox and the Miami Marlins, and outfielder Joc Pederson, who’s hit at least 23 homers six times.
“Our roster on paper lines up with the best in the league,” Jung said. “It’s crazy to see what the Dodgers are doing right now, but you look at on paper, especially our lineup, it could do some damage and do some damage in a hurry.”
