Rangers' Josh Jung channels Kobe Bryant in reflecting on injury - ESPN

ARLINGTON, Texas — Rangers third baseman Josh Jung got emotional reading what he had prepared to explain how he felt about his fractured right wrist and the fourth surgery of his young career.

Though some of the words might have been familiar, the feelings were genuinely his.

Jung said Friday that his statement, modeled after what the late Kobe Bryant said when the Hall of Fame basketball player tore his left Achilles tendon in 2013, helped him get through some of the feelings he had since surgery earlier in the week when a plate and seven screws were inserted into his wrist. Jung is expected to miss eight to 10 weeks.

«This is such BS. All the training and sacrifice just flew out the window with one pitch. A pitch I've seen a million times,» Jung read from his phone. «The frustration is unbearable. The anger is rage. The words are few and far in between.»

Jung suffered the broken bone after he got struck when swinging at a pitch Monday night. His right hand immediately went numb, and the break was worse than expected when he had surgery.

The 26-year-old, who last year as a rookie was voted as the American League All-Star starter, hit .412 with two homers and six RBIs in the first four games after missing most of spring training with a left calf strain.

«You've been through something, you know you can do it again,» Texas manager Bruce Bochy said. «Just a shame he's had to do it so many times at his age. He was primed to have another great year, and he was swinging the bat so well, and playing a great third base.»

The No. 8 overall pick in the 2019 amateur draft out of Texas Tech, Jung had already played in the All-Star Game when he broke his left thumb on a fielding play at Miami last August. He returned to hit .308