Guns Up Nation Most Valuable Player: Jace Jung

The Guns Up Nation staff has selected Second Baseman Jace Jung as the Most Valuable Player.

Three things are certain in life: Death, taxes, and Texas Tech baseball producing the best Big 12 talent.

For the fourth time in the last five years, a Texas Tech baseball player has earned the honor of Big 12 Player of the Year. This time it is freshman second baseman, Jace Jung.

Jung, who is the first freshman to win the award in Big 12 history and also the first second baseman to earn the honor, has been playing at an all-time level this entire season.

Jung finished top 10 in hits (64), top five in batting average (.366), and first in home runs (20). To put Jung’s play this year into perspective I have compared Jace Jung to some of the best hitters in recent Texas Tech history including three other Big 12 Players of the Year.

This chart illustrates just how dominant Jace Jung has been from the plate this year. He is the leader in three of five stat categories and will likely take the lead in hits and rbis by the end of this year’s postseason. Jace Jung has been an absolute cheat code this year.

When he left MacArthur High School and set foot on Texas Tech’s campus, he had a target on his back and some very large shoes to fill because of the impact that his brother had at The Law for three years. As a result, Jace decided to absolutely shatter these expectations and perform at a level that nobody expected him to reach.

Jung had a decent freshman season but never was able to develop himself as the dominating force that he is now. I guess all it took was a lockdown with his brother and another year in Tim Tadlock’s system to un-tap his explosive potential.

In addition to nabbing the Big 12 POTY honor, he has also been named a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy, which is an award given to the best college baseball player each season.

Jung will be huge for the Red Raiders going into postseason play as Texas Tech aims to make yet another run at the College World Series, something that Texas Tech fans have come to expect from this baseball squad.

We are truly living in a golden age of Texas Tech baseball with all the elite players that are constantly building and leaving their legacy here in the 806. And with the standard that Jung has set for the next guy to meet, I would not expect to see another player perform at a Jace Jung level in a long time, but I’ve said that before…