September 9, 2022: Welcome to the show: Rangers’ Josh Jung hits a home run in his first at-bat

The Texas Rangers found themselves in need of a third baseman. Late-season injuries, including Rangers utilityman Brad Miller going on the 10-day injured list, paved the way for Josh Jung to start at third base.1 The Texas Rangers called up Jung from the Round Rock Express of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League on September 7, 2022. During the 2021 and 2022 seasons, Jung was dominant in Triple A, posting a combined .316 batting average with 21 doubles, 15 home runs, and 45 RBIs for an astounding .987 OPS.2 The Arlington crowd of 21,329 would see Jung play for the first time, and his performance that day quickly made him a favorite among Rangers fans.

Toronto had won six of its last seven games. By contrast, the Rangers had lost six of their last seven. Toronto hurler Ross Stripling was on a hot streak with a 2.52 ERA over his last 14 starts. Dane Dunning took the mound for the Rangers. With the weather an agreeable 87 degrees in Arlington at the 7:05 P.M. start time, the retractable roof at Globe Life Stadium was open for the first time since April 30, 2022. With their team finally playing under natural skies after 54 games, Rangers fans hoped that winning luck would find them again.3

That all changed when Dunning got off to a disastrous start in the top of the first inning. On his first pitch, George Springer hit a blooper down the third-base line. Dunning’s relay throw missed first base entirely and ended up in the Rangers dugout, allowing Springer to take second base. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. followed with a single that moved Springer to third base. With men on first and third, Bo Bichette grounded into a fielder’s choice. From third base, Jung threw Guerrero out at second, but Springer scored, giving Toronto a 1-0 lead. Next, designated hitter Alejandro Kirk lined out to center. Catcher Jonah Heim gunned down Bichette trying to steal second base for the third out. Stripling retired the top of the Rangers batting order to end the first inning.

Dunning struck out Matt Chapman looking to begin the second inning. Raimel Tapia lined a single to left field. Santiago Espinal hit a groundball toward first base and Lowe threw Tapia out at second. Danny Jansen lined out to deep left field and the side was retired. In the bottom of the second, Stripling continued to dominate the Rangers batters, setting down the middle of the order one-two-three.

In the top of the third with two out, Guerrero doubled to center and Bichette smacked his fifth home run in four games, a two-run shot, to give the Blue Jays a 3-0 lead.

In the bottom of the third, Jung got his first major-league at-bat. With a 1-and-2 count, on an 84 MPH changeup, Jung hit a home run to left field. Rangers TV play-by-play announcer Dave Raymond made the call: “One two, he swings and hits one high and deep to left field. Back on it is Tapia. At the track, at the wall, he leaps, it’s outta here! Josh Jung, welcome to the big leagues!”4 The ball traveled 388 feet, clearing the wall in left-center field.5 “I was just kind of floating around the bases,” Jung said later. “I gave a fist pump around second, yelled, ‘Let’s go!’ and my parents were going crazy in the stands.”6

In a TV interview immediately after the home run, Jung’s mother, Mary, said she was “ecstatic” for her son. Josh’s father Jeff said, “Since he was a little kid he had said when I get my first major league at-bat I want to hit a home run.”7 Stripling then struck out Josh Smith and Bubba Thompson, and Marcus Semien flied out to end the inning.

In the Toronto fourth, Chapman dropped a single into left field but Heim threw him out trying to steal second base. Tapia grounded out and Dunning struck out Espinal. For Texas, Corey Seager grounded back to Stripling, who threw him out, Nathaniel Lowe lined out to first base, and Heim flied out to center.

In the Toronto fifth, inning, Jansen flied out to center field, Jackie Bradley Jr. hit a weak roller up the first-base line, and Dunning struck Springer. Pitching with a two-run lead, the Blue Jays’ Stripling coaxed Kole Calhoun into a groundout, got Leody Taveras to fly out to left field, and retired Jung on a popup to first. The score remained 3-1, Toronto.

The Rangers defense held the Blue Jays scoreless in the sixth despite Toronto’s best effort. With two out, Kirk walked and Chapman slapped a double to left. Dunning walked Tapia to load the bases. Dennis Santana replaced Dunning and retired Espinal on a foul popup to third baseman Jung.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, with two outs, Semien doubled to right field, extending his on-base streak to 20 games, the longest active streak of the season at the time. Seager followed with a single, scoring Semien, while Seager hustled to take second. With one on and two out, Stripling got Lowe to line out to second base to end the inning.

Brock Burke replaced Santana to start the Toronto seventh. Jansen slapped a single to left field. But Bradley fanned and pitcher Burke grabbed Springer’s groundball in front of home plate, threw it to Semien to get Jansen at second base, and Semien fired to first for the double play.

In the bottom of the seventh, Adam Cimber replaced Stripling. Heim popped out foul to catcher Jansen. Calhoun lined out to right field. Cimber hit Taveras with a pitch and Jung singled to right, sending Taveras to third. Blue Jays pitcher Yimi García replaced Cimber. Jung stole second, but García struck out Smith, ending the inning.

Toronto’s Bichette tripled off Burke with one out in the eighth, but Burke buckled down and struck out the next two batters.

Thompson lined a double to left field to lead off the Rangers’ eighth. Semien’s fly to left was deep enough to move Thompson to third. For Toronto, Tim Mayza replaced García. Facing Mayza, Seager drove a double off the wall in left field that tied the score at 3-3. Bradley saved a run by corralling Heim’s fly ball to left field in a spectacular piece of glove work that ended the inning.

In the top of the ninth, Toronto grabbed the lead again. José Leclerc replaced Burke for the Rangers. Leclerc walked Tapia, who stole second base after Espinal was unable to get a bunt down. Espinal’s fly to left moved Tapia to third base, and Jansen’s bloop single into shallow left field scored Tapia. Leclerc retired the next two batters to end the half-inning, but Toronto led 4-3.

In the bottom of the ninth, Toronto’s Springer moved from center field to right, and Bradley Zimmer came in for Biggio in center. Jordan Romano replaced Mayza on the mound. After Romano struck out Calhoun, Taveras singled to left and stole second base. Jung struck out, and the Rangers brought in Adolis García to pinch-hit. With the game on the line, Romano got García to pop out to right field to end the contest.

Besides hitting a home run in his first at-bat, Jung got his first major-league stolen base. He became the second Texas Ranger to hit a home run in his first at-bat. (Jurickson Profar did it in 2012), and the first to do it at home.8

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference, Retrosheet, Baseball Almanac, Stats Crew, and the Josh Jung player file at the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Thanks to Rachel Wells at the Hall of Fame, as well as Pat Scheller, Holly Scheller, and Greg Fowler for their support.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/TEX/TEX202209090.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2022/B09090TEX2022.htm

Photo credit: Josh Jung, Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 https://texastech.com/sports/baseball/roster/josh-jung/9135. After a stellar collegiate career at Texas Tech University, Jung became the second first-round pick in program history when the Rangers took him eighth in the first round of the June 2019 amateur draft. Jung played three seasons for Texas Tech and was a unanimous All-America selection in his junior year.

2 “Round Rock 3B Josh Jung Promoted to Texas,” milb.com, September 9, 2022. https://www.milb.com/news/rel-2022-9-9-round-rock-3b-josh-jung-promoted-to-texas, accessed March 23, 2024. 

3 “Bichette Hits 5th HR in 4 Games, Blue Jays Beat Rangers 4-3,” ESPN.com, September 9, 2022.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/recap/_/gameId/401356280, accessed March 23, 2024. The last time the roof was open, the Rangers beat the Atlanta Braves 3-1.

4 “Rangers Rewind: Josh Jung Homers in First MLB At-Bat,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaT7amAJhYI, accessed March 24, 2024.

5 Josh Jung’s First Career Homer, September 9, 2022. https://www.mlb.com/video/josh-jung-homers-1-on-a-fly-ball-to-left-center-field, accessed March 24, 2024.

6 “Rangers Rewind: Josh Jung Homers in First MLB At-Bat.”

7 Paul Livengood, “In His First Career At-Bat for the Texas Rangers, He Hit a Home Run. Meet Josh Jung,” WFAA television, September 10, 2022. https://www.wfaa.com/article/sports/mlb/rangers/who-is-josh-jung-texas-rangers-home-run/287-5fb3f9cd-6e91-4b8c-92b8-707cfa244c65. Accessed March 24, 2024.

8 Matthew Postins, “Josh Jung Homers in Rangers Debut,” Sports Illustrated, September 9, 2022. https://www.si.com/mlb/rangers/news/josh-jung-hits-home-run-in-first-texas-at-bat-mlb-debut, accessed March 24, 2024.