In a season where the Texas Rangers are expected to be evaluating talent for the future, the top prospect will be a spectator at the beginning of the 2021 season.

2019 first round draft pick Josh Jung is recovering from a March 22 surgery.

Doctors placing a screw in his left football to alleviate a stress fracture.

The repair sidelines the Texas Tech product for 6-8 weeks.

Rangers President of Baseball Operations Jon Daniels said, “I mean there is always the options of rest or rehab. But we felt, Josh felt, and more importantly the doctors felt like the most likely outcome of rest would be circling back in six weeks and needing the surgery at that point. So I think this is one of those deals where you take care of it once and for all. He’ll be able to go full-go without any limitations after that.”

While it sounds like bad news;

Daniels added, “If there is a silver lining the delayed start to the minor league season and so he won’t really miss a lot of time as far as the regular season but certainly he’ll miss some time in preparing for it.”

Once recovered, the Rangers will decide whether to send him to Triple-A Round Rock or Double-A Frisco.

Either way, Don’t be surprised if Jung is the everday starter at the hot corner by the end of the season.