Jung (wrist) to visit specialist after BP session cancelled

BALTIMORE -- For much of the past week, it appeared as though Josh Jung could be on his way toward returning to the Rangers lineup in short order. Now, it looks like he won’t be back for a while.

The Rangers pushed back the start of Jung’s hitting progression again on Saturday, with manager Bruce Bochy saying Jung will see a specialist Monday to evaluate the readiness of his surgically-repaired right wrist. Bochy said Jung will not test the wrist in a batting practice session this weekend as originally planned.

“He’s disappointed,” Bochy said. “A couple of days ago he was feeling really good. We were optimistic he would be swinging today. There is still just a little soreness in there. We want to get rid of that before we ramp him up again.”

Because Jung will require a progression/ramp-up of at least 7-10 days that could include more rehab games once he is cleared medically, the delay makes it possible that he won’t be ready to return to Texas’ active roster until after the All-Star break.

“It’s not like he’s going to take some swings one day and we’re going to activate him,” Bochy said. “We want to take care of him and make sure, when we do activate him, he’s good to go and we’re not putting him at risk.”

Jung, who has been sidelined since his right wrist was fractured by a hit-by-pitch on April 1, had his first rehab assignment shut down last week due to a flare up of tendon inflammation above the surgery site. He returned to the Rangers on June 26 with an eye toward testing the wrist in a batting practice session in the coming days. That session was first planned for Friday, then pushed back to Saturday.

On Saturday before their game against the Orioles, the Rangers determined Jung wouldn’t test the injury this weekend at all.

“When you get in that hand area, there are a lot of little things that can be going on, so that’s what we want to find out,” Bochy said. “It hasn’t quite calmed down enough. The doctor will look at him to see if we should give him more time, or if he should get back to swinging.”

It's undoubtedly a setback for Jung, who was the American League’s starting third baseman as a rookie in the 2023 All-Star Game and an integral piece of Texas’ run to the World Series a year ago. The emergence of Josh Smith in his place has been one of the bright spots of the year for the Rangers, but overall their offense has sagged for long stretches as they’ve struggled to a 37-45 record through their first 82 games. Texas entered Saturday tied for 18th among MLB teams in runs scored this year (341), after having the game’s third-most potent offense a year ago.