Texas Rangers Select Texas Tech 3rd Baseman Josh Jung With 8th Pick Of MLB Draft
ARLINGTON, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - The Texas Rangers selected Texas Tech third baseman Josh Jung with the eighth overall pick in the 2019 Major League Baseball Draft.
The Rangers tweeted moments after the pick, "Josh is staying in Texas!"
Josh is staying in Texas!#MLBDraft | #TogetherWe pic.twitter.com/iyleLmyTue
— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) June 4, 2019
CBS Sports analysts said of Jung:
In many ways, Jung is similar to Indians prospect Nolan Jones. He excels at hitting the ball to the opposite field, is a below-average runner and questionable third baseman (although he played some shortstop for Texas Tech this season). Jung has the size (6-foot-2, 215 pounds) and strength to hit for plus power, but his current approach would probably only yield 20-25-homer pop. He has a long track record of being a high-end performer, earning first-team Freshman All-American honors and slashing .392/.491/.639 as a sophomore. His batting average has fallen off slightly as a junior (.332), but he is still getting on base at a .471 clip, thanks to a 37:49 K:BB in 54 games. If he were to unlock another level of power, he could be a top-10 fantasy third baseman, but should still be quite serviceable as is.