Texas Rangers Add First Round Pick Justin Foscue to Player Pool

In a surprise move on Thursday, the Texas Rangers added their 2020 first round pick Justin Foscue to their 60-man player pool.

The Texas Rangers have made some interesting additions to their 60-man player pool this season adding in a couple of players that look like players well away from the big leagues and assigning them to their alternate training site. The first pair came last week when Texas added two of their shining pitching prospects, Cole Winn and Ricky Vanasco to their player pool. Thursday, they followed that up by adding their 2020 first round draft pick, Justin Foscue, to the player pool and sent him to the alternate training site.

Adding Foscue to the 60-man player pool is sure to draw some attention for a few reasons. Foscue was considered a polished draft prospect when Texas selected him out of Mississippi State but still at least a year or two away from cracking the big leagues. While this is clearly not the equivalent of that, it’s definitely a big step as he’ll now be competing against some of the Rangers top prospect talent and a number of former big leaguers on a regular basis.

The circumstances of his addition could be as simple as that. Texas may just want him to get more opportunities to develop and the alternate training site is the best way to achieve that. However, with being added to the 60-man player pool comes some drawbacks. Players, once added, cannot be removed except via trade, release, or being placed on the COVID-19 Injured List. That essentially means Foscue is there to stay unless Texas uses him in some sort of trade over the next week and a half.

Foscue has a chance to impress now that he’s getting some inter squad game time. Texas is a club that is likely going to be in need of reinforcements next season and will be open to taking a look at any of their talented in house options. With as developed as Foscue was coming out of college, he could throw his name in the hat for a potential big league role next year. At the very least, he could start his pro career at an upper level of the minor league system and be on the fast track to the Majors.