The Rangers offered medical updates on many injured players on Friday, with Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News among those who relayed the information. Third baseman Josh Jung had tendon release surgery on Tuesday, which will keep him out for the next three to four weeks. After that, he will begin recovering strength in the hopes of having a normal summer. Evan Carter underwent a back ablation treatment, while Adolis García has a strained patellar tendon in his left knee. He will rehab for eight weeks before starting his summer program.
Jung, 26, was hampered by his right wrist in 2024, both in terms of quality and quantity of output. Last season, he hit 23 home runs in 122 games for the Rangers, batting.266/.315/.467 with a 112 wRC+. Ideally, he would have improved on that this year, but he was hit by a pitch in only his fourth game of the season and suffered a fractured right wrist.
He had surgery in early April. However, the issues with his wrist had not been resolved at that moment. The club had anticipated a six-week recuperation period, but the procedure proved to be more challenging than anticipated, extending his planned schedule to eight to ten weeks. In May, it was announced that even the extended timeline
was optimistic. As he tried to recover, inflammation and discomfort persisted. He was reinstated from the IL at the end of July, but he ended up returning in late September owing to wrist injury. He concluded the season with a.264/.298/.421 slash line and a 102 wRC+ in just 46 appearances.
Jung was considering a platelet-rich plasma injection in the hopes of promoting recovery, but he would have had to wait six weeks to see if it helped, which could have simply been pushing the can down the road. “The rupture of the tendon was unavoidable,” Jung tells Grant. By completing the operation today, he should ideally have Before spring training begins, give yourself some time to recover. Carter, 22, had a similarly similar story this year. He made an impressive start with the Rangers in 2023, hitting.306/.413/.645 in his first 23 major league games and then.300/.417/.500 in 17 postseason games. However, he had a mostly lost season, hitting.188/.272/.361 in only 45 games, with a stress response in his back to blame. According to Grant, the purpose of this ablation operation was to “burn” away some scar tissue that was preventing him from recovering. He has already been cleared to begin the hitting progression.
García played 154 games this year but produced significantly less. His batting line of.224/.284/.400 and wRC+ of 92 were significantly lower than those of.245/.328/.508 and 126, respectively, last year. He also had a massive.323/.382/.726 line and 199 wRC+ in the postseason, helping the Rangers win the World Series and earning ALCS MVP honors. Perhaps the knee ailment accounts for the significant drop-off. The eight-week schedule should allow him plenty of time to recover before spring training begins.
The Rangers’ offensive difficulties were a major cause for their disappointing performance following their World Series victory. They averaged.263/.337/.452 during the 2023 regular season. That resulted in a 116 wRC+. It trailed only Atlanta and Tampa. In 2024, they slumped to.238/.305/.380 and 95 wRC+, placing them in the lowest third of the league. The club’s dismal performance was not restricted to these players, although having three anticipated regulars at less than full strength is clearly not ideal. Ideally, everyone can be healthy for spring and return to their best selves in 2025. Jung is expected to start at third base, while Carter, García, Wyatt Langford, and Leody Taveras will play outfield. García, set to turn 32 and has two years of club control left, is a theoretical trade prospect for this winter, but the Rangers would clearly sell low. Given his difficult season and injured knee
Leave a Reply