Is Foscue the offensive spark the Rangers need?

This story was excerpted from Kennedi Landry’s Rangers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

ARLINGTON -- Justin Foscue made his MLB debut on April 5. He recorded his first hit and RBI on April 7. By April 8, after he got just a pair of pinch-hit at-bats, he landed on the injured list with what would end up being a months-long rehab from a left oblique strain.

After a long rehab and being optioned to Triple-A Round Rock on June 26, Foscue finally rejoined the big league club on Saturday, ahead of the second game of the Rangers’ series against the Astros.

“It's a lot of mixed emotions obviously like getting my first hit being up here just for a week, and it was awesome, right?” Foscue said on Saturday. “It was just very weird timing for it all. I felt the oblique on the same at-bat as I got the hit. It's a tough thing to go through. I thought I earned my way up here and then it gets taken away just like that. But everything happens for a reason. And I'm back here now. So that's all that matters.”

Foscue said the MRI on his left oblique wasn’t great, but he was still sidelined longer than he expected as he returned to Arizona to begin his rehab.

“It was just a lot of recovery, working back from that oblique,” Foscue said. “A lot of days doing many exercises in Arizona and then obviously progressing back to playing in the games. I feel good now, I'm happy to be back. The one week I was up here, I was just very grateful that I just got an opportunity to make my debut.

“I've been waiting for that moment for years. Like I said earlier, once I got hurt and I wasn't here with the team anymore and [I] had to go back to Arizona, it was kind of like, ‘Damn.’ It puts things into perspective. It's definitely special to be up in the big leagues.”

A 2020 first-round pick (14th overall) by Texas from Mississippi State University, Foscue is here to be a hitter, plain and simple. A natural second baseman, he’s blocked by All-Star Marcus Semien. He’s spent time at the corners, but Josh Smith and Nathaniel Lowe are two of Texas’ better bats at the moment.

The Rangers desperately need production from the designated hitter spot. Entering Sunday, Texas ranked 29th in MLB in batting average (.201) and OBP (.268) at the DH position, as well as last in SLG (.309) and OPS (.577). That’s where Foscue figures to get most of his reps.

If hitting is what the Rangers need, hitting is what Foscue will do.

“I’m OK with any role as long as I’m up here,” Foscue said with a laugh.

It’s a good thing he’s pretty good at hitting though.

Foscue rates as an above-average hitter and has had more walks than strikeouts in both 2023 and ‘24 with Round Rock. He has gotten even better in his second year at Triple-A.

The Rangers’ No. 2 prospect, per MLB Pipeline, Foscue has hit .271/.431/.469 with four home runs, seven doubles and 18 RBIs in 29 games between a brief rehab assignment with the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League team and Round Rock.

“I think just for me as a hitter, what I can provide for this team and who I am as a hitter is I'm gonna be a competitive advantage each at-bat,” Foscue said. “And if that means more walks than strikeouts, that's what it means. My job as a hitter is just to compete, and I got good bat-to-ball skills, and the numbers say what they say. … I feel really good at the plate right now.”

It almost goes without saying that the Rangers need an offensive spark as the Trade Deadline looms.

They hope Foscue can be part of it.

“That’s why he’s up here,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “We’re sputtering a little bit, so he can help out the back end of our lineup. That can change that, but that's where we're gonna start him out. We want him to just be himself. … He’s got good bat-to-ball skills. That cuts down his strikeouts and he draws his walks with the discipline that he’s got. He’s gonna drive the ball. He’s really been throwing out some good at-bats.”