Josh Jung’s Resurgent Bat Key in Leading Rangers to Series Split with A’s

About the only thing Texas Rangers third baseman Josh Jung hadn’t done in the past seven games has hit a home run. He took care of that on Thursday.

Jung’s first home run of the season was well-timed. Texas was tied, 3-3, with the Athletics in the seventh inning and Wyatt Langford was on base. Jung slammed a 90 mph four-seam fastball from right-handed reliever Scott Barlow into the right-center field seats to break the tie and give Texas a 5-3 lead. The Rangers scored four more runs in the ninth inning to clinch a 9-6 win.

Jung finished 3-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored. Two of his hits went to the opposite field, which speaks to an evolving approach at the plate, both swinging his bat and choosing pitches.

Josh Jung’s Red Hot Run

Jungster delivers. #AllForTX pic.twitter.com/RTev1zM3Jj
— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) April 16, 2026

Jung finished the game with a slash of .263/.323/.386 this season, with a home run and five RBI. But his last seven games have been terrific. He’s slashed .360/.448/.640 with a home run and four RBI. Along with take the ball opposite field more, Jung has developed an approach that is leading to more walks and fewer whiffs.

In his last seven games he’s drawn four walks against three strikeouts. For the season he’s drawn five walks and 12 strikeouts. So, Jung has boosted his walk rate and dramatically reduced his strikeout rate in the last seven games.

That feeds into something that the Rangers have been hoping Jung can reduce the past few seasons — his whiff rate. Per his Statcast page, he has a whiff rate of 19.4%. That is in the 80th percentile in the Majors and, if that remains his whiff rate the entire season, it would be the best of his career in a single season.

Other Statcast numbers show that Jung’s overall numbers are catching up from the start of the season. His XBA (expected batting average) is .312 and is in the 95th percentile. His hard-hit rate of 50% is in the 80th percentile and his launch angle sweet spot rate is 45% and in the 95th percentile.

The pieces are starting to come together for Jung, who missed three weeks during spring training with a Grade 1 adductor strain and limited his ramp-up for the regular season. He played his way into shape and failed to get a hit in his first four games. The hot streak pushed his season batting average to .200 against the Los Angeles Dodgers last weekend.

Now, he has one of the hottest bats in the Texas lineup and his evolution as a hitter in the short-term is worth watching.

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