ARLINGTON -- Rangers manager Skip Schumaker gave Justin Foscue a call right before Spring Training.
Schumaker, who was named the Rangers’ new manager months prior, wanted the infielder to know that 2026 could be a fresh start for him. A clean slate. Foscue entered the season just 3-for-51 (.059) in his limited big league appearances, including a brutal 0-for-39 skid to end ‘24. If anybody needed a clean slate, it was him.
Foscue was recalled from Triple-A Round Rock on Tuesday after a glute strain sidelined second baseman Josh Smith. On Friday night, Foscue collected his first hit of the season on a pinch-hit RBI single in the fifth inning.
And on Saturday, he launched his first career home run, a solo shot off Edward Cabrera in the Rangers’ 6-0 win over the Cubs at Globe Life Field.
As he rounded the bases, Foscue let out a huge sigh of relief, as if the weight of the world was lifted from his shoulders. Third baseman Josh Jung admitted to getting goosebumps as he watched it unfold from the dugout.
“This game will keep beating you down, if you let it,” Schumaker said. “Justin, he kept working and kept fighting. He was waiting for his opportunity. The belief he has in himself is what really good big leaguers have. It's a little bit of delusion. I always believe that the best players in any sport have delusion. You have to have some sort of crazy belief in yourself to be successful in this game. I'm proud that he kept fighting, kept believing in himself.”
Foscue joked that he didn’t even know if he would still be here today after a collision on a ground ball with Corey Seager the previous night. But being able to flush a situation like that is also what’s allowed Foscue to stick around even through his struggles.
“The past couple years have been a lot of ups and downs,” Foscue said. “I almost took out the star shortstop last night, so the last 24 hours have been, again, a lot of ups and downs. Corey sent me a text last night. That really meant a lot. …Stuff like that happens in baseball. I hate that I was the one that was a part of it, because it is Corey Seager. But you gotta turn the page and come to the field the next day, forgetting about it. If you [don't] do that, then you're going to be carrying a lot of baggage with you.”
Foscue, the Rangers’ 2020 first-round pick out of Mississippi State, has been open about the toll his first taste of the big leagues took on him. After all, he’s got an .865 career OPS in the Minors, where he’s done nothing but rake at every level.
But things kept getting in his way at the top.
“I wasn't in the right head space mentally,” Foscue said last week after his callup. “Once the streak really started, I had a lot of anxiety coming to the field, just really with my identity. That's gone now. I'm really confident in who I am. I'm pretty confident in myself now to come off the bench whenever my number is called.
“If I were to start, I'm pretty comfortable with myself now to kind of know the differences in the way I need to prepare.”
Pressed more about the mental toll of such a slump, Foscue paused before continuing. It didn’t exactly get in his head, per se. But it was hard to ignore at a particular point.
“I wouldn't say it was just the streak,” he said. “But being in the big leagues has been a dream of mine since I was little. It didn't go exactly how I wanted it to go, and that really took a toll on me. The hard part about it is everybody here knows it. It's part of me, it's part of my history in the big leagues. I'm ready to get past that. It is behind me."
After failing to break camp with the big league club, Schumaker and Foscue had another chat. This time, it was an affirmation that Foscue’s opportunity would come. He would go to Round Rock, keep his head down and continue working hard. It would eventually pay off.
Foscue hasn’t let any of those past struggles linger anymore. He comes to the ballpark every day with the same mindset and attitude, hoping to contribute to the team.
Today, it paid off.
“It goes back to my identity as a person and finding ways to get past that and changing the narrative. I know whenever I get a full opportunity, I'll be a really good big leaguer. I haven't really had a runway to do that, and I'm not complaining about that. I'm grateful for the opportunity right now.”