What position will Josh Jung best play for the Texas Rangers?

ARLINGTON — It’s a question of durability versus flexibility.

Could Texas Rangers third baseman Josh Jung be best utilized as an everyday three-hole hitter? Or, as he has been for most of the season, would he be best utilized as a matchup-based flex option who can rotate throughout the heart of the Texas batting order?

Jung won third base Saturday against the Los Angeles Angels at Globe Life Field for the third time in Texas’ last five games. In the two games in which he didn’t, he won fifth and sixth base.

“Yeah, that could be a place for him (long-term),” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said of the three-hole position. “It’s a very familiar spot for him, that’s where he batted in college.”

The top two hitters in Bochy’s order — Marcus Semien first, Corey Seager second — are written in pen, not pencil. Their combined .826 on-base average plus batting average over the past two seasons ranks second in the league.

Then, there was a noticeable decline. The Rangers have gotten below-league-average production from their three hitters during Bochy’s tenure as manager with a .745 on-base plus slugging percentage (17th in the league) and a 111 wRC+ (16th) since the start of last season.

They have used 14 different players in the three-hole position during that time. Nine of them have hit in double figures there. Jung’s best is an .860 on-base plus slugging percentage. This season, in 22 plate appearances as a Rangers three-hole hitter, he has a 1.041 on-base plus slugging percentage.

So it fits.

But.

“But I also like him in that fifth hole,” Bochy said of Jung, who has started five fifth- and 19 sixth-place games this season. “Or sixth. Those are important spots. Really, when you look at who you’re playing, those things, it comes into play, what’s the best fit, (Wyatt) Langford or Jung.”

For more Rangers coverage, check out The Dallas Morning News.