CIN
Josh Jung, IF
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Scouting report
Last year, I wrote that if Jung (pronounced like "young") was going to get to all of his considerable raw power in games, he probably needed a swing change that would enable him to pull the ball more consistently, and that he'd move into the 50 FV tier once and if that occurred. Well, it did. I saw Jung a few times in college and again after he was drafted, and while he struck balls with authority, he was inside-outing everything to center or right-center field and couldn't really get around the baseball to pull it, even during batting practice. While Jung's strength and feel to hit enabled a high quality of contact despite this atypical style, there are just times when it's best for hitters to turn on middle-in mistakes and park them in the left field seats or rip them down the line for a double, and I finally saw Jung start to do that in the fall of 2020. He was a .346/.452/.562 career hitter at Tech and had more walks than strikeouts during his last two years with the Red Raiders. Originally thought to be a risk to move to first base, Jung has not only allayed those concerns but also played a passable college shortstop and deserves an extended look at second base in pro ball to see if he can do it. He's 23 and still hasn't played above A-ball because of the pandemic, and his 2021 season got off to a delayed start because of a stress fracture in his left foot. But Jung has a long enough offensive track record to feel confident that he'll hit enough to profile at third base, and if he can pass at second, then he'll rocket up this list toward the top of the 50 FV tier at least.