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.
PITTSBURGH -- This feels a bit like a second MLB debut for Justin Foscue.
Foscue -- the Rangers' No. 13-ranked prospect, per MLB Pipeline -- made his actual MLB debut on April 5, 2024 against the Astros, when he recorded his first hit and RBI off All-Star closer Josh Hader. It was downhill from there.
He went on the injured list with an oblique strain just days later and didn’t return to rejoin the big league club until Aug. 31. Foscue finished the 2024 season on a brutal 0-for-39 skid in the big leagues, which was the longest O-fer in franchise history until Joc Pederson went 0-for-41 from April 2-22, 2025.
A skid like that is hard for any player. It’s even worse for a player with only two career hits to his name.
“It's definitely hard, it was a tough thing,” Foscue said. “That's not how I really wanted to start my career, and it's definitely still weighing on me to prove to other people that that's not who I am. I know that's not who I am.
“It's just about coming out here, getting comfortable, and then just getting my feet wet and just going, playing baseball at the end of the day. It's the same game that I've been playing my whole life. I think I'm more self-confident this year than I've ever been. So just trying to go out there and do my thing.”
So yeah, a second debut.
Foscue said that this year does feel a little bit different. Not because of the circumstances surrounding him, but because of his own self-confidence and belief that he can be the player he was meant to be.
“Again, it's the same game that I've been playing my entire life,” Foscue said. “I’m just trying to calm myself down and be in the moment as much as possible. … With everything last year, I kind of felt like I was looking for validation from a lot of people. I can't really rely on that. I gotta rely on my beliefs and my own self-confidence.
“I think I've just slowly built that back to where it was a couple of years ago, and hopefully it can translate to the big leagues again. I know I'm a good baseball player. I know I can hit at the big-league level. I've hit throughout my entire Minor League career. They drafted me where they did for a reason. I just have to believe in that, trust in that, and then we'll see where it takes me.”
Foscue immediately got back to work this offseason, trying to flush his hitless streak.
He has spent most of the 2025 season with Triple-A Round Rock, slashing .269/.360/.487 with 10 homers, 37 RBIs and 26 walks to 31 strikeouts. He’s made starts at second base (28), first base (17) and designated hitter (7) this season.
Foscue was on the injured list from May 17-June 3 with a hamstring strain, but returned to Round Rock after a brief rehab assignment in Arizona. Then, on Saturday, he got the call he was waiting for, joining the big league squad for the first time this season to replace an injured Jake Burger. While Foscue didn’t make an appearance in the team’s 3-2 win over the Pirates on Saturday, the 26-year-old is ready to shake the demons of the end of his last big league tenure.
“What's been my main focus is just trying to stay healthy and keep playing every single day, take care of my body,” Foscue said. “Then just trying to stay as locked in offensively as possible. I feel like I've been doing a pretty good job of that as of late, ever since I got back from my hamstring, I feel pretty dialed in. Hopefully I can obviously keep it going up in the big leagues. Obviously my main goal is to stick up here.”
Foscue was selected at No. 14 overall in the 2020 MLB Draft. In five seasons in the Texas organization (2021-25), Foscue carries a career .275 batting average with 70 home runs and 289 RBIs in 392 Minor League games.
He’s been as pure of a hitter as you can find in the Minors. He’s just got to do that here.
“Hopefully he's flushed it,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “That's what you have to do in this game. Good players can't do anything about what happened last year. You gotta move on. Hopefully he looks at this as another great opportunity to show what he can do and that he can play up here.”