LAKELAND, Fla — Back in February, Jace Jung, the Detroit Tigers‘ second baseman of the future, had a conversation with Jonathan Schoop, the current second baseman.
“He just told me to be aggressive,” Jung said. “And have fun. Because when you stop enjoying this game, you know it turns into a job. You want to just enjoy it while you can.”
So in Jung’s first at-bat, in his first spring training game, in his first big league camp, Jung came out swinging. He was aggressive on the first pitch.
“He rifles a single,” A.J. Hiunch said.
Yes, that’s how you enjoy this game.
That’s why the Tigers drafted Jung in the first round of the 2022 MLB draft.
He has a tremendous bat.
“It’s nice to get him over here and give him a little taste of what’s ahead for him,” Hinch said. “We liked him as a player, obviously drafted really high.”
The Tigers play split-squad games against Tampa and Baltimore on Monday, so they will end up having four games in five days.
So if everything works out as expected, Jung could get some more action soon.
“Hopefully he’ll be back in the next couple of days,” Hinch said on Thursday. “We have a lot of games here coming up and we can continue to get him some looks around some older players.”
MORE FROM SEIDEL:Move over Tork and Riley — there’s a new bromance between Tigers draft picks
Learning lessons
After signing with the Tigers, Jung played 30 games at High-A West Michigan last summer, getting his feet wet. He got 108 at-bats, had 25 hits, six doubles, a triple and a home run for a .232 batting average.
“I learned a lot,” Jung said. “West Michigan isn’t hitter friendly at all by any means. But I learned a lot. I had a lot of things I wanted to get done this fall.”
Jace is following in the footsteps of his older brother, Josh, who made his MLB debut in 2022, playing 26 games for the Texas Rangers. He hit .204 with five home runs.
Neither Jung brother was happy with his performance. So they trained together in the offseason, creating a new plan.
“We didn’t do like we wanted last year,” Jace said. “When he got to the bigs, he didn’t perform like he wanted to. I got to High-A, I didn’t perform like I wanted. So I think it really drove us to become better and more aware of our surroundings and of our swings because we want to perform at the highest levels we can, because that’s just how we were raised.”
Jace is working on hitting high fastballs, making tweaks to his swing to account for that pitch, and he started using four different bats of different weights and lengths.
“I have one-handed thick grip bats,” Jace said. “I stop on contact, basically working on my breaks, trying to stop at contact and make sure my ball flights good. It’s for feeling the barrel. We want to get that barrel to the ball and make solid contact. So switching up the weights and lengths helps you feel the barrel, feel contact out in front and make sure you’re making contact and not too deep.”
During this spring training, Jung has spent as much time as possible around the big league players, watching and learning.
“Their swings are so smooth,” Jung said. “They are so routine oriented and just go about their days very, very strict. They stick to their schedule and stick to their plan.”
ON THE MOUND: How Tigers’ top-secret pitching laboratory has modernized their pitchers
Hard-working, blue-collar dude
Jung’s work ethic is one of his strengths.
In fact, the Tigers are trying to get him to slow down a bit.
“We’ve actually had to pull the reins on him here,” said Ryan Garko, the Tigers vice president of player development. “He wants to do everything. I keep talking to him and telling him, ‘you’re gonna be playing every day until September.’
“He’s coming from a really good Big 12 program (Texas Tech) that he understands how to prepare and how to work.”
Hard working and driven. But there is something else.
Even though he’s a first-round pick, he’s got a chip on his shoulder.
“People always say that I don’t have range and all this stuff,” he said. “And it’s funny because they must not watch me, but that’s OK. They can keep hating because that just drives me more to be the better version of myself.”
ON THE MOUND: How Tigers’ top-secret pitching laboratory has modernized their pitchers
Yes, he has a great attitude.
“He has the makeup and just that blue-collar attitude that we had heard about from the scouts coming in,” Garko said. “He likes to work and like really likes to hit. It’s gonna be just fun to watch him go out play.”
Neither Jung brother was happy with his performance. So they trained together in the offseason.
Being aggressive.
And having fun.
The lesson of the current second baseman.
To, in all likelihood, the future one.
EAT ‘EM UP: One way to know Tigers are invested in future? It starts at the kitchen table
Contact Jeff Seidel at jseidel@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @seideljeff.
To read Seidel’s recent columns, go to freep.com/sports/jeff-seidel.