CHICAGO — When Josh Jung walked into the clubhouse Monday afternoon and noticed his title written third on the lineup card, he solely had one thought.
“That’s cool,” he mentioned with a smile.
It’s the primary time the Rangers’ rookie third baseman has batted that top within the lineup in his younger huge league profession, as he often slots into the five-hole this season and solely has seven profession video games batting cleanup. Bumped up just a few spots, Jung got here via with a 3-for-5 day — together with a two-run homer within the third inning — in Texas’ 5-2 win over the White Sox. He scored two of Texas’ 5 runs.
It’s the primary time supervisor Bruce Bochy has tweaked the lineup this season when the highest 5 hitters — Marcus Semien, Corey Seager, Nathaniel Lowe, Adolis García and Jung in that order — are all beginning.
Bochy mentioned pregame that he had thought of flip-flopping Jung and Lowe in opposition to a left-handed starter for just a few weeks now, to keep away from having two left-handed hitters in Seager and Lowe going back-to-back. With Chicago beginning lefty Tanner Banks on Monday in a bullpen recreation, and Jung coming into the day hitting .328/.366/.627 in opposition to left-handed pitchers this season, it was the proper alternative to strive it out.
Not solely did Jung get pleasure from a productive evening, however Lowe — hitting within the 5 gap as a substitute of third like typical — went 1-for-3 with a single and two walks.
Exactly how the skipper drew it up.
“It worked out well,” Bochy mentioned. “Josh, he’s had a lot of success off lefties. I just liked the way it looked. It’s a lineup you could see in certain situations, breaking up to two lefties there. It’s good to see it work out, especially for those guys because you’re moving them around a bit. You know they’re used to hitting third or fifth and they had no problem with it, as far as mentally having things changed up a little bit. You look at what Nate did, he had two hits, a couple of walks, too. So that really couldn’t have worked out better.”
Bochy mentioned he will certainly think about using this lineup when the opposing crew begins lefties, however the lineup in opposition to right-handers will seemingly stay the identical because it has all season.
Jung, for what it’s price, handles all of it in stride irrespective of the place he’s hitting within the lineup. But he additionally acknowledges that it means rather a lot to him that Bochy and the teaching workers belief him sufficient to proceed putting him within the coronary heart of the order each evening, whether or not that’s fifth or third.
Jung (profession, coming into play Monday):
“It definitely feels good,” Jung mentioned. “That’s really all there is to it. I mean, I think everyone in here hit third their whole life, pretty much on every team they played on. So when I saw that’s where I was, it was just pretty cool that it was my first time in the big leagues.”
In Monday’s win, Jung additionally hit the twentieth residence run of his MLB profession in recreation No. 95. That is the second-fewest video games to succeed in 20 profession residence runs by any participant in franchise historical past, behind solely Chris Davis, who hit his twentieth HR in his 94th profession recreation in 2009.
Jung, the AL Rookie of the Month for each April and May, has continued his scorching streak nicely into June as he pushes for a possible All-Star recreation bid to go together with his Rookie of the Year marketing campaign. He’s slashing .333/.406/.605 with seven residence runs and 19 RBIs over his final 30 video games whereas persevering with to be one of the very important elements of the Rangers’ lineup.
Bochy mentioned Jung is “way up there” amongst among the greatest rookies he’s managed in his illustrious profession.
“He’s a winning type of player,” Bochy mentioned. “And what I mean by that is that he’s good in those big situations for a young rookie. He has a poise and calmness about him, yet he’s very amped up when he’s playing the game. He plays with a lot of energy and that’s what you love about him, but he’s able to control that.”
Content Source: www.mlb.com