Jace Jung, Chase Hampton Crack ESPNs Top-100 Prospects
LUBBOCK, Texas – A pair of former Texas Tech Baseball standouts were ranked amongst the best prospects in baseball, Wednesday, as former Tech infielder Jace Jung (Detroit Tigers) and Chase Hampton (New York Yankees) were tabbed as the No. 62 and No. 81 prospects according Kiley McDaniel of ESPN.
A former first round pick to the Tigers (12th overall), Jung has shined in his short stint in the Tigers minor league system, 29 home runs in less than 600 at-bats at both High-A West Michigan and Erie.
Known for his power bat and strong left-handed power, Jung also shined defensively for the Seawolves, as the infielder earned the MiLBs ‘Gold Glove’ for the second base position after recording a .993 fielding percentage for the Sea Wolves. Jung helped Erie win the 2023 Eastern League Championship in 2023, after hitting .284 with 14 home runs and 39 RBIs in just 47 games played.
Jung also played in the prestigious Arizona Fall League last fall and was also named the No. 60 overall prospect by Jim Calias last week and the No. 2 overall second base prospect in all of baseball. The 2021 Big 12 Conference Player of the Year, Jung projects to potentially make his MLB debut for the Tigers during the 2021 season.
Tech’s second prospect inside the top-100, Hampton, exploded onto the scene in 2023 after being drafted by the Yankees in the sixth round of the 2022 MLB Draft. Hampton shined in his first full season in the Yankees organization, pitching to a 3.63 ERA across two levels. Pitching and starting in 20 games, Hampton struck 145 batters over 106.2 innings pitched.
Hampton was named the South Atlantic League’s top pitching prospect in 2023 after throwing 47.0 innings for the Hudson Valley Renegades and pitching to an ERA of 2.68. Hampton punched out 77 batters and allowed just 16 walks over those 47.0 innings featuring his trademarked mid-90s fastball.
Both Hampton and Jung look to continue to build upon Tech’s strong run of MLB players lately as six Red Raiders have made their MLB debut since the start of the 2019 season.
Tech has also had back-to-back World Series champions in Parker Mushinski (2022 Astros) and Josh Jung (2023 Rangers) and has 24 players currently active in MiLB and five active MLBers. Heading into the 2024 season 17 of the 24 active players in MiLB have reached at least Double-A highlighted with seven of those players reaching Triple-A.
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Release Provided By Andrew Stern Texas Tech Athletics
