The optimism was short-lived. Jung was placed on the injured list on Saturday with a left calf strain, sidelining him for the Rangers’ most important stretch of the season in which they will face three American League contenders -- the Mariners, Rays and Astros -- over the course of the next eight days heading into the Trade Deadline.
“That's why I was trying to do everything I could to get ready to go,” Jung said. “I know how important these games are. They're massive, and then the Deadline. I mean, there's a lot of stuff going on right now. So this sucks.
“I didn't want to go on the IL, but the team needs something that's going to be better. The longer I linger on here, you don't want to play a man down. Again, these are huge games. Could I pinch-hit? I would love to say yes. But what if I pinch-hit and run down the line and pop my calf, and now we're out six to eight weeks? That's doing nobody any good.”
Jung exited the Rangers’ game on Tuesday against the White Sox after just three innings due to left calf tightness, and he did not play in the club’s next two games. There was originally an expectation that he would be ready for the Seattle series this weekend.
Both on Friday and Saturday, he attempted to run pregame and was unable to reach a full sprint. The original thought was that it would be knocked out quickly, but the location of the strain presents an uphill battle in the immediate future.
“It’s at the very bottom of the calf, where it attaches to the Achilles,” Jung explained. “So that's a little scary, but I think a lot of it is the pain tolerance. I've done everything I can to get it ready to go. When I came out to run, it just wasn't necessarily ready yet to push it. I don't want to put me or the team in harm's way. Like, if I go out and try to, you know, run and it pops, and then we're in a worse spot.”
Jung has been on the injured list multiple times in his big league career for a number of injuries, but not at all since a short stint from March 29-April 8, 2025, when he was sidelined with neck spasms.
He did have two other calf injuries -- a strain in 2024 Spring Training that sidelined him until the final days of Cactus League play, and another where he missed four games in 2025. But he didn’t go on the injured list in either occurrence.
Jung has been healthy through the first stretch of the season and has stood out as one of the Rangers’ most consistent hitters, slashing .294/.361/.441 with an .802 OPS.
Jung entered Saturday ranked among American League leaders in multihit games (T-2nd, 32), batting average (4th), doubles (T-4th, 23) and hits (T-9th, 104). His .375 batting average in home games is tied with Houston’s Yordan Alvarez for the highest figure in the Majors.
The first date that Jung would be eligible to return is Aug. 1. Infielder Josh Smith was recalled from Triple-A Round Rock as the corresponding move.
“Listen, it's next man up,” said manager Skip Schumaker. “This is what it literally is. There's no way else to explain it. We have guys that are excited to play tonight against a really good team, and I'm excited for them. That is the truth. I like the way they played last night, because they're not all 100 [percent] either. They're going for it, and I appreciate the way they're attacking this thing.”