Rangers Place 3B Josh Jung on IL, Recall INF Jonathan Ornelas
Oakland, Calif. — The Texas Rangers today announced that the club has placed third baseman Josh Jung on the 10-day Injured List with a left thumb fracture. To take his place on the active roster, the team has recalled infielder Jonathan Ornelas (#36) from Triple-A Round Rock.
Jung was injured while trying to catch a line drive off the bat of the Marlins’ Jorge Soler at third base in the 6th inning on Sunday vs. Miami. He stayed in the game for the following batter, but exited during that inning’s pitching change. Jung has started 107 of the Rangers’ first 112 games at third base, including 33 straight, batting .274/.323/.489/.813 with 22 home runs and 67 RBI. This season, he became the first Texas rookie ever to start in the All-Star Game, and he leads all Major League third basemen with a .990 fielding percentage. He leads all American League rookies in home runs, RBI, runs, extra-base hits, and total bases.
Ornelas, 23, has batted .250/.360/.348/.708 (84-336) with 5 home runs and 39 RBI in 88 games with Round Rock this season, making starts at shortstop (63), second base (14), center field (7), and third base (4). His 55 walks in 2023 are already a career high (previously 45 BB in 2022) and rank T9th in the Pacific Coast League. The right-handed batter and thrower also ranks among PCL qualifiers in times on base (16th, 143) and on-base pct. (20th), while his 199 assists are 3rd-most on circuit behind Tacoma’s Mason McCoy (264) and Albuquerque’s Connor Kaiser (214).
Ornelas is currently rated among the top prospects in the Rangers farm system by MLB Pipeline (14th), FanGraphs (19th), Baseball Prospectus (19th), and Baseball America (28th). Last season, the versatile infielder earned selection as an MiLB.com Organization All-Star and captured the Rangers’ 2022 Minor League Defender of the Year award. He has produced a career .273/.347/.396/.743 (497-1822) slash line, 36 home runs, 207 RBI, and 60 stolen bases across five minor league seasons since being selected by Texas in the third round of the 2018 MLB Draft out of Raymond S. Kellis High School in Glendale, Ariz.
Following today’s transactions, the Rangers remain at the 40-man limit on the club’s Major League roster, along with three players (Jacob deGrom, Brett Martin, and Jake Odorizzi) on the 60-day Injured List.