Now, a closer inspection on Jung’s injury showed that he sustained a fracture on his wrist, knocking him out of action for the foreseeable future, per Kennedi Laundry of MLB.com. Manager Bruce Bochy is ruing the fact that something out of Jung’s control is putting a hold to what has been a stellar start to the 2024 season for the 26-year old third baseman.

“I just feel horrible. He’s had such tough luck on this end as far as injuries and puts a damper on this win. Especially the way he was playing, he was carrying us today. He’ll be back. I talked to him briefly. Now this hurts and you know, I feel for the kid because he’s had to deal with so much. It’s gonna be a little while, but he’ll be back,” Bochy said.

Now, it remains unclear when Josh Jung would be back, although a doctor on Twitter (X) pointed out that the best-case scenario for the Rangers is that Jung would be out for six to eight weeks. That would have him returning around June or July, which would force him to miss a significant portion of the 2024 season.

Josh Jung continues to be unlucky with injuries

One occupational hazard of playing baseball for a living is getting hit by a hard projectile traveling near 100 miles per hour. However, Josh Jung has had his fair share of unlucky injury moments, with the wrist injury he sustained against the Rays just being the latest in a long line of injuries over the past few seasons.

As Landry pointed out, Jung began three of the past four seasons with injuries, including earlier this year in Spring Training when he dealt with a strained left calf. The only positive takeaway is that his injuries aren’t concentrated on one body part; he had suffered a fractured left foot, a torn labrum, a calf injury, and then the wrist fracture.

“He’s had some bad luck again,” Bochy added. “I just told him he will be back. He’s pretty down, as he should be because he was just coming off that calf injury and playing well, swinging the bat well. It’s not easy to have a setback when you’ve had so many of them, but he’s got to keep telling himself he’ll be back. He’s young. He’s going to have a nice long career, and this is just another little setback here for him.”

Rangers’ third base situation outlook

The Rangers called upon Josh Smith to pinch-hit for Josh Jung after he had to abruptly exit the game. Smith, the 26-year old bench player, figures to be more of a defensive option, as a cursory look at his batting statistics show that he may mostly be a quick out if pressed into everyday action.

If anything, the projections (per Fangraphs) show that Ezequiel Duran might be a better option to fill in the majority of innings at third base amid Josh Jung’s absence. Last season, Duran hit 14 home runs and drove in 46 runs, slashing .276/.324/.443 in 439 plate appearances in his age-24 season.