{"id":785121,"date":"2026-07-26T07:37:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T07:37:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/785121\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T07:37:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T07:37:17","slug":"rangers-place-josh-jung-on-il-recall-josh-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/785121\/","title":{"rendered":"Rangers Place Josh Jung On IL, Recall Josh Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"

Third baseman Josh Jung<\/a> went on the injured list with a right calf strain before Friday\u2019s matchup against the Mariners. The Rangers recalled utilityman Josh Smith<\/a> to add some infield depth.<\/p>\n

Jung was pulled from Tuesday\u2019s contest against the White Sox after singling and coming around to score in the third inning. He did some running this week, but didn\u2019t progress enough to avoid the injured list, relayed Jeff Wilson of DLLS Sports<\/a>. Texas is hoping for a minimum stint for Jung, which would put him on track to return next weekend against the Astros.<\/p>\n

Injuries have hampered Jung for much of his career. While he\u2019s missed time with a variety of issues, the calf has popped up on multiple occasions, including over the winter. This time around, the infielder said he felt discomfort that didn\u2019t subside after Tuesday\u2019s departure. \u201cI think it\u2019s kind of the location of it,\u201d Jung told reporters, including Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s at the very bottom of the calf, where it attaches to the Achilles, so that\u2019s a little scary. But I think a lot of it is the pain tolerance. I\u2019ve done everything I can to get ready, but when I come out and run, it just wasn\u2019t ready to push it.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an inopportune time to lose an everyday player. Texas is in the middle of an important four-game set against Seattle. The Rangers won on Friday to extend their AL West lead to 1 1\/2 games. The Mariners are 2 1\/2 games back of the final AL Wild Card spot. Jung\u2019s absence did allow Texas to jam another lefty in the lineup against right-hander Bryan Woo<\/a>, with Smith drawing the start at the hot corner.<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old Jung is enjoying his best season as a big leaguer. He\u2019s slashing .294\/.361\/.441 through 396 plate appearances. Jung has taken a major leap forward in terms of plate discipline. He\u2019s cut his strikeout rate to 17.9% this season, while walking at a career-best 8.3% clip. Jung hasn\u2019t flashed the power he\u2019d shown early in his career, with nine home runs in 92 games, but his adjustments have led to a strong 128 wRC+.<\/p>\n

After two seasons as a solid regular, Smith has struggled this year. A .563 OPS in early May led to a demotion. He\u2019s been back up a couple of times with the Rangers, but hasn\u2019t stuck for long. Smith hasn\u2019t been much better in the minors this year. He had a big two-game stretch in Double-A, but has posted a 70 wRC+ in 23 games at Triple-A.<\/p>\n

Smith is unlikely to match Jung\u2019s contributions at the plate. He\u2019ll be a clear upgrade in the field. He\u2019s recorded 9 Defensive Runs Saved in 178 appearances at third base. Most of that production is weighted toward his first couple of years in the league, though he was a neutral defender as the Rangers\u2019 primary third baseman in 2024. Jung has a brutal -12 DRS in 782 innings at third base this season.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Jim Cowsert, Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Third baseman Josh Jung went on the injured list with a right calf strain before Friday\u2019s matchup against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":785122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[45449,233144,99],"class_list":["post-785121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-josh-jung","tag-josh-smith","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=785121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/785122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=785121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=785121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=785121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}