Texas Rangers: Josh Jung’s swing should have fans excited

Texas Rangers’ top prospect Josh Jung’s swing looks awfully familiar…

We’re not saying organizational top prospect Josh Jung will be the next Texas Rangers legend, but… we might be saying that.

The former Texas Tech Red Raider and Rangers first round draft pick in 2019 has always been renowned for his plus hit tool, as evidenced by his career .316/.389/.443 triple slash line in the minor leagues to this point.

Jung, a third baseman, is expected to begin the 2021 season with Double-A Frisco as he begins his journey to become a big-league pro.

The Texas Rangers have been looking for their next long-term solution at third base since Adrian Beltre’s retirement in 2018.

And while Beltre set a high bar during his time in Arlington, there might be another Texas Ranger great who Jung could emulate his game after…

Second baseman Ian Kinsler, anyone?

Kinsler, of course, spent the first eight years of his career in a Ranger uniform, playing an integral role on the back-to-back AL pennant winning squads of 2010 and 2011.

The second baseman made three All-Star appearances as a Texas Ranger and developed a reputation for being defensively apt (though he didn’t get recognized for those abilities until after leaving Arlington for Detroit) by clinching two Gold Gloves at the position.

Ian Kinsler was valuable to the Texas Rangers. Josh Jung could be too, one day.

So when fans watched this video compilation of Josh Jung’s swing put out by the team’s player development facility, many on Texas Rangers Twitter drew immediate comparisons between the two infielders.

You can’t convince us otherwise, either.

What’s more, Jung also plays infield in addition to his right-handed bat, only making a comparison to Kinsler that much more fascinating.

It’s not out of the question that Jung could one day move to second base as well, should he grow out of the third base position.

That would REALLY make things interesting in terms of a Jung-Kinsler comparison.

All in all, one could do a lot worse than be compared to a player like Ian Kinsler, who had a very solid big league career (pop-ups aside).

More importantly for the future of the Texas Rangers, though, Josh Jung’s swing looks compact, fluid and easily repeatable.

This sets himself up well to be able to reach the hitting potential endowed to him by scouts.