Rangers Option Marc Church, Justin Foscue to Triple-A Round Rock
Foscue hit .444 in four spring games but a February hamstring injury cost him his shot at the Rangers roster; Church never threw a pitch in camp before being sent down.
The Texas Rangers optioned right-hander Marc Church and infielder Justin Foscue to Triple-A Round Rock on March 16, a pair of moves that had nothing to do with what either player did on the field in Surprise, Ariz.
"All about timing," as Dallas Morning News beat writer Evan Grant put it. With Opening Day approaching, at-bats and innings need to go to players still in the fight for a roster spot. Church and Foscue, for different reasons, were no longer in that fight.
Foscue had been a legitimate candidate to break camp with the club. The 2020 first-round pick entered spring as one of several infielders competing to fill the void left by Marcus Semien, and early injuries to Josh Jung and Corey Seager briefly cracked the door open even wider. Then a hamstring injury in February knocked Foscue out of the competition for nearly three weeks. He returned to get four games in, slashing .444/.500/.556 with an RBI, but the timing never recovered. Jung and Seager both appear healthy heading into Opening Day, and Jared Walsh has reportedly claimed the roster spot that opened when Nathaniel Lowe strained his oblique. Foscue heads to Round Rock, where he'll play multiple positions and wait for an opportunity.
Church's situation was more straightforward, if no less unfortunate. The 23-year-old right-hander entered camp as a legitimate bullpen candidate after going 1-1 with a 3.22 ERA across 17 appearances for Round Rock in 2024, a season he salvaged after missing nearly four months with an injury that kept him on the IL from April 18 through August 15. This spring, he strained a muscle in his back early in camp and, per Grant's reporting, had not yet appeared in a game by the time the option was recorded. With relievers crowding the final one or two bullpen spots and only one week of camp remaining, the Rangers couldn't afford to wait on Church to build his arm back up. Grant Anderson is now considered the likely candidate to claim a bullpen spot that opened when Jonathan Hernandez was placed on the injured list to start the year.
Church, who was added to the 40-man roster on November 14, 2023, and entered this spring ranked as the organization's 20th-best prospect according to FanGraphs, posted a 7-1 record with a 3.48 ERA across 30 games in 2023. He also made his major league debut last season after being recalled from Round Rock. The talent is real; the timing, again, just wasn't there.
The two options left the Rangers with 40 players remaining in major league camp, including Jordan Montgomery, who is already on the 60-day IL. Among non-roster infielders still in camp, Tyler Wade and Andrew Velazquez have not been optioned. Wade has been one of the more productive hitters in Surprise, slashing .414/.485/.586 with a home run and two RBI, offering the kind of positional versatility Texas values off the bench.
More moves are expected. The Rangers had not issued an official announcement at the time the options appeared on the MLB transaction log, with additional reassignments from the non-roster group anticipated after the day's game.
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