Jung finally broke through to the major leagues in 2024, but his role going forward remains unclear.
Jace Jung entered the Tigers’ organization as a first round pick, but has largely been overshadowed throughout his time as a professional. That’s not necessarily his fault, as it’s tough to stand out as the pick sandwiched between Jackson Jobe and Max Clark. As an advanced college hitter, Jung was the first of the trio to make it to the major leagues. His first brief look at the majors wasn’t terribly impressive, but it was such a small sample of plate appearances that we’re not putting too much weight on it right now.
We’ve never been quite as high on Jung as the national prospect media — particularly MLB Pipeline, who ranks him as the 62nd prospect in the game. While he continues to draw a ton of walks and hit his share of home runs in the minor leagues, there just isn’t as much hard contact as his production would lead you to believe. He has a solid collection of tools, but other than his zone discipline and tendency to be a pesky at-bat who sees a lot of pitches, there isn’t really a standout trait to bank on just yet at the major league level.
Generally speaking, Jung hasn’t changed much as an offensive player since his amateur days. He came to the pro ranks with a reputation as a pull hitter who drew more walks than strikeouts through his college career. He looked gassed in his pro debut and struggled at West Michigan, but things went back to normal in his full season debut in 2023 as he made some minor swing changes and shredded Double-A competition.
Jung was assigned to the Toledo Mud Hens for the 2024 season, and he had a solid year against Triple-A pitching. Even in the lively offensive surroundings of the International League, he was 19 percent more valuable than the league average hitter, a figure rooted in his elite walk rate. On the other hand, his power production dropped off somewhat against more experienced pitching, so we’ll have to see if he can adapt and take a step forward in 2025.
Jung continued to prove himself a strong fastball hitter during the 2024 season, batting .262 and slugging .477 in at-bats ending with a fastball. He also shored up some weakness he showed in 2023 against better velocity. That was a positive considering his batspeed remains mediocre and requires him to really lock in on fastballs in his favored zones and be ready to let it rip. His eyes light up when he sees a heater coming in middle high, and he triggered on nearly all his opportunities for a fastball in that zone. However, he can get a bit greedy, and exchanges contact for uppercut power. As a result, there are still plenty of whiffs and pop-ups in the profile.
Selling out for power may not be a mistake, however. Jung’s pure contact ability has never been that good, and he’s just not going to be a high average hitter at the major league level. He also has just average power, so to hit for the kind of power production he needs to be an everyday player, selling out for fly balls to the pull field is necessary. The question is whether he can avoid being a one trick pony who walks and strikes out a lot and only occasionally provides the power. Finding a balance is going to be tricky, but if he can hit 15-20 bombs a year and continue to walk a ton, that’s enough to get him plenty of playing time against right-handed pitching. That still seems pretty likely, so there is a strong floor there.
It was a very limited sample, but in his look at the major leagues, Jung did spray more balls to the opposite field than we’ve seen previously. That approach may point out the way forward for him. If he can hunt the fastball early in counts and hit his share of dingers, and then adjust deeper in counts, using his good eye to take pitches and shortening up to spray the ball around more, this might work out well. His two-strike approach may end up being a deciding factor in how his career turns out.
This isn’t Jung’s fault, but from the Tigers’ perspective, another problem with Jung is that he doesn’t really fit into their future roster plans that well. He was a college second baseman after he failed as a third baseman his freshman year, and as a draft prospect, he was viewed as a second baseman whose bat would carry him through to the majors. After winning a surprise minor league Gold Glove award at second base in 2023, the Tigers tried him out at third again in the Arizona Fall League, and things went a little better, leading to a season’s worth of third base reps in 2024. There his reactions and arm strength still looked rather overmatched at times and he still profiles far better at second base.
2025 Outlook
Jung’s opportunities at the major league level in 2025 will largely be dictated by what the Tigers do with the major league roster before the season begins. He’s clearly conquered the minor leagues. There’s no way left for him to prove himself worthy of playing time except by succeeding at the major league level, which may be a challenge if the Tigers make good on their chase for star free agent Alex Bregman. With a healthy Bregman on board in 2025, there would be no starting jobs available after the signing of Torres moved Keith to first base temporarily. Keith is likely to move back to second base in 2026, and prospect Hao-Yu Lee will likely be ready for reps at the second base position by then as well.
That leaves just a backup role for Jung at the major league level, where he could become a useful piece to manager AJ Hinch as a matchup weapon. During the 2024 season, Jung was noticeably more successful against right-handers, hitting .272/.402/.510, including 13 of his 14 home runs, against right handed pitchers in Triple-A action. On the other hand, he hit for neither average nor power against lefties, and finished with a .217/.315/.326 line in those at-bats.
The plate discipline does give him a solid floor as he continually runs really good on-base percentages, but without hitting for average power, that’s only going to help so much. Jung doesn’t have the speed to take full advantage of the high walk rate, and is going to have to mash right-handers to some degree to find his way to a regular role with the Tigers.
If the Tigers do go into the season with Jung on the roster, he would make for a decent platoon with Matt Vierling at the hot corner. That’s not going to be good for the Tigers’ infield defense, but the club emphasizes outfield defense as the priority, so a partnership at third might be acceptable while allowing both players to get their fair share of at-bats. Jung is a quality prospect. His collection of strengths and weaknesses just makes for a bit of a narrow path to regular playing time at the major league level.