Justin

Foscue

The latest batch of cuts from Rangers camp come as little surprise. Foscue was a first-round pick a half-decade ago who has played sparingly at the highest level. Church made five relief appearances for the Rangers last year.

It’s a tough break for Foscue, who is off to a strong start this spring. The 26-year-old former first-round pick smacked a 106-mph single in his lone at-bat of the exhibition contest prior to exiting. He’ll presumably head for further evaluation and testing to determine the severity of the injury. There should be an update on his status in the coming days.

So, it’s a new injury for García, rather than an aggravation of his sprained ankle. It sounds like he might go back on the IL, which could lead to a callup for Justin Foscue. Alejandro Osuna would probably be the biggest beneficiary when it comes to playing time.

Foscue simply hasn’t hit at all in a couple chances at the big-league level over the past two seasons. The 26-year-old former first round pick has gone 1-for-9 with two RBI in four games this season in the majors. He heads back to the minors with Texas bringing Josh Jung back after a couple weeks at Triple-A.

Foscue, 26, has spent the majority of the season at the Triple-A level where he has slashed .262/.353/.471 with 10 homers, 37 RBI, three stolen bases and a 32/27 K/BB ratio over 239 plate appearances. He’ll add depth on the infield for the big league club. Michael Helman was optioned to Triple-A Round Rock in a corresponding move.

Foscue went just 1-for-6 in his limited time with the Rangers after Wyatt Langford was placed on the injured list with his oblique strain. With Langord now back, Foscue will head back to Triple-A to provide organizational depth.

Josh Smith is also taking a seat on Monday night with lefty Trevor Rogers taking the hill for Baltimore at Globe Life Field. The 22-year-old former top prospect is in the midst of a seven-game hitting streak, batting .357 (10-for-28) with three steals during that span. It’ll be Michael Helman getting his first start in center field with Justin Foscue filling in at the cold corner.

Freeman is now hitting .312/.360/.494 in 67 games at Triple-A with 10 home runs and six steals. He has cut his strikeout rate in half this season by not focusing so much on pulling the ball and making better swing decisions. He has an impressive 89 percent contact rate and a minuscule 5.1 percent swinging strike rate. The former fourth-round pick may be a better option than Justin Foscue to fill in at the hot corner with Jake Burger (oblique) on the IL.

Foscue went 2-for-42 over 15 games last year with the Rangers in his first taste of the big leagues. The 26-year-old former first-round pick gets the call ahead of Saturday’s game against the Pirates with Jake Burger heading to the injured list with an oblique strain.

Burger heads to the injured list after exiting Friday’s contest against the Pirates with left side tightness. The 29-year-old first baseman underwent imaging that revealed an oblique strain. He’s going to be out for at least a couple weeks, even if it’s of the mild variety. It’ll likely be some combination of versatile Josh Smith and Ezequiel Duran taking over at the cold corner in his absence with Justin Foscue coming up from the minors to take his roster spot.