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Top prospect Josh Jung’s goal is to make Rangers’ opening day roster, however unlikely that may be

The former first-round pick knows it’s a long shot, but that doesn’t mean he’s not going to try.

SURPRISE, Ariz. — A few prospects in camp have already been told by manager Chris Woodward that they will not be making the opening day roster. Other prospects haven’t heard anything one way or the other.

Rangers top prospect Josh Jung is one such player who has yet to learn his fate. Woodward has publicly acknowledged that it’s very unlikely the third baseman will break camp with the team — so unlikely he didn’t even want speak out loud what it would take.

But if you’re a super talented 23-year-old who just happens to play an infield position without a solidified starter, even something extremely unlikely is worth striving for over the next month.

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“To say it’s not one of my goals would be wrong,” Jung said. “I would love to start opening day on the roster.”

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Jung did make that concession after some prodding. He also said all the right things a young player in his position should say — that he’s just appreciative of the opportunity and that he wants to prove himself.

Jung appears to be on a fast track to the Rangers roster — whether that’s on opening day, or much more likely, later in the 2021 season or in 2022. The Rangers’ 2019 first-round pick from Texas Tech has played only 44 minor league games, but it might not take many more for him to show he won’t need to play them ever again.

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“We’ve had our eyes on him,” Woodward said. “To be able to get in front of our entire staff, obviously out on the big league field with big league competition is really important for him. He’s in a really good spot right now to show what he can do.”

While his minor league service time is short, he did spend much of the shortened 2020 season at the alternate training site working with Rangers coaches. He also played in the instructional league. And now he’s getting a look in big league camp.

While the 2020 season was less than ideal for many reasons, Jung felt as though the alternate site actually helped him. He described “training dirty” there, which he described as the process of putting oneself in difficult positions to make improvement on the points where he struggled.

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“I think that’s just something that you’ll never truly get or grasp just in a normal year,” Jung said. “And I had the opportunity to do that. And it was a blessing in disguise.”

One of the points of improvement was his pull power. At Texas Tech, he was a good all-fields hitter, but particularly, he was good at driving outside pitches the opposite way to right field.

He acknowledged that professional pitching involves more hard throws on the inner half of the plate, and being able to turn on those pitches was key to his growth.

“My gosh, night and day,” Woodward said when asked if he’d improved in that area. “I think that’s the biggest thing I’ve been impressed with. I saw him in BP after we drafted him, everything he pulled was topspin.

“If he did hit hard, it was like a hook ball to the left side, even the balls in the air.”

Woodward said Jung has made mechanical changes in that area to improve his power to left field. It’s not that he’s trying to hit homers. He’s doing a better job of catching the ball out front, Woodward said, and making sure his swing path stays clean.

It will be an interesting balance that the manager has to strike in spring training in order to get Jung opportunities. For one, there’s another top third base prospect, Sherten Apostel. And Apostel might be ahead of Jung, considering he made his MLB debut last season.

“Him and Josh are kind of neck and neck,” Woodward said, noting Apostel needs to improve defensively. “At some point, one of those guys will be ready.”

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But before that happens, there’s the business of actually finding the likely winner of the job — with a mixture of Rougned Odor, Charlie Culberson, Brock Holt and others all fighting for the role.

Woodward’s job is to balance giving Jung at-bats to develop and evaluate him, while also finding his opening day starter at the position.

Jung’s job, though, is to do everything he possibly can to show he’s the answer there, however unlikely that actually might be.

“Getting on the big league roster is not in my control at all,” Jung said. “So just let those guys take care of that decision and I play the best baseball and force them to make that decision.”

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