Justin Foscue

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Justin Connor Foscue

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Biographical Information[edit]

Second baseman Justin Foscue was the first pick of the Texas Rangers, #14 overall, in the 2020 amateur draft. He was coming from Mississippi State University, where he had hit .331 in 2019 and .321 in the abbreviated 2020 season. He played in the College World Series in both 2018 and 2019. He had also been a member of the USA College National Team during the summer of 2019.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic that had cut short his junior season after 16 games, he had to wait until 2021 to make his pro debut, which came with the Hickory Crawdads of the High-A East. After a short rehabilitation stint with the ACL Rangers, he finished the year with the Frisco RoughRiders of the Double-A Central. Between the three stops, he batted .275/.371/.590 in 62 games, with 19 doubles and 17 homers. He continued to display an excellent bat in 2022, when he spent the entire season with Frisco, now back in the Texas League, finishing at .288/.367/.483 in 101 games, with 31 doubles, 15 homers, 60 runs and 81 RBIs. Really, the only negative was that the major league Rangers had signed 2B Marcus Semien to a long-term contract before the season, blocking his natural position for the foreseeable future. He did play a few games at third base, where he was more likely to find an opening at the major league level.

In 2023, he spent a full season with the AAA Round Rock Express, playing 122 games and hitting .266/.394/.468, with 94 runs, 18 homers and 84 RBIs. He split his time between second base and third base and was named an organizational All-Star for the third straight year. In normal circumstances, this would have earned him a September call-up and talk about how this hot prospect should work his way into the major league team's line-up, but the Rangers were having their best season in years - they eventually ended up as the winners of the 2023 World Series, and his two main positions were locked up by star players in Semien at 2B and Josh Jung, who had an excellent rookie season, at 3B. And to add to that, the Rangers had two other top-rate prospects, both OFs, in Evan Carter and Wyatt Langford, stealing the limelight. So he was not talked about much during spring training and returned to Round Rock to start the 2024 season. However, Jung was hurt during the first week of the season, and Justin was called up to take his place on the roster although it was the more experienced Josh Smith who took over as the starter at third base. He made his major league debut on April 5th as a late-game replacement for Semien at second base in a 10-2 win over the Houston Astros, flying out to second base in his only at-bat. His first career hit came in his next appearance, as a pinch-hitter for Carter against Astros closer Josh Hader in the 9th inning on April 7th. His single drove in Adolis Garcia from second base as the Rangers were trying to overcome a 3-0 deficit, but came up short. However, on that hit, he pulled a hamstring muscle and had to go on the injured list.

Related Sites[edit]

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