Josh Jung is being shut down for the rest of the season. It’s probably something they should have done sooner.

The human I.L. machine had his wrist broken by an errant fastball in the fourth game of the season. He had already hit two home runs and driven in six on the young season when it happened. The Rangers were 3-1.

When he came back in the 108th game of the season, the Rangers were only four games under .500 and still harbored delusions that they could turn it around. They couldn’t. They didn’t add a bat at the trade deadline, hoping Jung would spark the offense. He couldn’t.

Wrist injuries are hard to overcome. They sap power. In the forty-two games that Jung played after returning from the I.L., he hit just five home runs, drove in just ten. That’s a 20 HR, 40 RBI pace for an entire season. And that’s not Josh Jung. 

He wasn’t the offensive savior the Rangers needed and expecting him to be was wrong. 

The twenty-six-year-old third baseman missed most of the 2021 season because of a broken foot, most of the 2022 season because of a shoulder injury, a great deal of 2023 because of a broken thumb, and most of 2024 because of a broken wrist.

Josh Jung is a guy who is as unlucky as he is good. Now that they shut him down for the year, he has a chance to head into 2025 with his wrist being fully healed.

With his history, though, there are still plenty other body parts that can break next year

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