Thursday Newsletter time: How Texas Rangers prospect Josh Jung channels Tiger Woods while working on hitting in the offseason
The team's No. 2 overall prospect skips hitting off a tee or front flips and just goes straight to hitting off a machine.
Tiger Woods became famous early in his career for going to the driving range and busting out his driver first thing, whereas others traditionally started with by loosening up with their wedges.
Similarly, many baseball players start their hitting routines by hitting off a tee or taking some front flips. Josh Jung is more like Woods.
Jung, who started his offseason hitting routine a few weeks ago, doesn’t mess around with tees and flips. The only balls he sees are from a machine.
“I just set up two machines in the cage, one fastball and one slider, curveball or something, and get to work on those every day going back and forth every pitch,” Jung said. “Every pitch is kind of different heights and all kind of different stuff.”
The end goal is maintaining his swing path, which he has discovered is the No. 1 key for him to be a quality hitter. That’s the same for many hitters, but they do their work in the more traditional way.
Jung said he is also working on some weaknesses he discovered in 2021, though there can’t be many of them. He batted. 326 across the top two levels of the minors, including .348 at Triple A Round Rock.
Suzuki buzz
Even though baseball is in the midst of a lockout, there continues to be a lot of buzz about Japanese star outfielder Seiya Suzuki, and every Rangers beat writer has written about the club’s interest in him.
It’s legitimate interest, not just because of their past dalliances with players from Nippon Professional Baseball. The Rangers think Suzuki is going to hit in the major leagues, and he would be an upgrade.
He also would be affordable, relatively speaking, and would come without a draft-pick compensation.
According to reports, there are as many as seven other teams interested. Among them are the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays.
Suzuki will have around three weeks to negotiate with any team once the lockout ends. The team that signs him will pay the Hiroshima Carp a posting fee that is a percentage of the total value of his contract.
ICYMI …
“In case you missed it” is a Monday and Thursday staple of the Newsletter because, and no offense taken, it can be hard to keep up with life let alone reading about the Rangers. Follow the links below to get caught up.
Matt Olson looming over Nathaniel Lowe
Josh Jung not looking to far ahead
Looking at first base in the Rangers’ system
Doggy video!
I wonder how long this doggo had been planning this. Perhaps years. Enjoy. See you Friday.
