The Rangers called up a third baseman named Jung from Texas Tech in the second half of the 2022 season and saw him become an All-Star and a World Series champ a year later. This week, the Tigers are going to try a similar strategy.

Detroit is promoting No. 64 overall prospect Jace Jung to the Major League club for Friday’s home game against the Yankees, MLB.com’s Jason Beck reported. Shortstop Trey Sweeney is also getting the call as the AL Central club gets a good look at its potential future infield.

Jung -- the brother of Josh in Texas -- slashed .257/.377/.454 with 14 homers, one triple and 23 doubles in 91 games for Triple-A Toledo before the move. He previously missed a few weeks in late June with a right wrist injury but returned for a rehab stint at Single-A Lakeland on July 1 and was back with the Mud Hens on July 9.

The calling card for the 23-year-old infielder is his plus power from the left side. He topped out with a 111.4 mph exit velocity in Triple-A, giving Toledo its fourth-hardest-hit ball of the 2024 season, and his 103.3 mph 90th-percentile EV ranks in the 56th percentile (i.e. just above-average) at the Minors’ top level this season. What helps Jung translate that hard contact into extra-base hits is that he’s adept at pulling (50.0 percent) and lifting the ball (41.3 percent fly ball rate).

Jung is also selective, swinging at only 20.8 percent of pitches outside of the zone (Triple-A average is 27.3) while searching for pitches he can drive. According to Baseball Savant, he’s seen six different pitch types at least nine percent of the time at Triple-A (fastball, slider, changeup, sinker, cutter, curveball), and he’s only really struggled to make contact against cutters among that group with a 34.1 percent whiff-per-swing rate. Everything else has a whiff rate below 29 percent.

The 2022 12th overall pick has shown a unique pre-swing setup that helps drive that overall approach. He’ll start with his hands held high and bat angled backward but snaps to attention quickly enough to stay on time and even get ahead of balls, leading to the aforementioned pulled shots to right.

Defensively, Jung was drafted as a second baseman out of Texas Tech but started to see time at the hot corner during last year’s Arizona Fall League. That coincided with fellow Tigers youngster Colt Keith’s transition the opposite direction from third to second, and 65 of Jung’s 82 starts in the field for Toledo this summer have come at third. His below-average speed makes him a more comfortable fit away from the middle of the dirt, and he has just enough arm strength to make it work across the diamond with some throws registering in the upper-80s in Triple-A.

Gio Urshela has been getting the majority of looks at third this season for Detroit but has managed just a .243/.286/.333 line and 73 wRC+ over 92 games. Tigers third basemen collectively rank 21st in the Majors with 0.8 fWAR in 2024, making the position ripe for improvement.

The fact that the organization’s No. 5 prospect plays that spot and has gotten ample time at Triple-A is a convenient one. Jung should get a full run at third base to help Detroit assess its options ahead of the offseason and give himself a leg up toward becoming a long-term cornerstone of the Detroit lineup alongside Keith, Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter.