First-Round Pick Surprise Projection For Rangers Opening Day Order
The Texas Rangers are likely to have a highly-regarded prospect in the batting order when they open their World Series title defense on March 28 against the Chicago Cubs at Globe Life Field.
But it’s not Wyatt Langford.
Recently, MLB.com projected the batting order and starting rotation for each Major League team. The Rangers’ projected batting order will be familiar to those that followed the Rangers last season.
But, in the eighth spot in the projected order is one of the Rangers’ top prospects — designated hitter Justin Foscue.
Foscue was the Rangers’ first-round pick in 2020 and has emerged as one of the top hitters in their system. Last year he impressed manager Bruce Bochy during spring training. After batting .266 with 18 home runs and 84 RBI last season with Triple-A Round Rock, he is poised to finally make it to the Majors in 2024.
This doesn’t mean that Langford, the Rangers’ first-round pick last July who rocketed from rookie league to Triple-A in three months, won’t make the team. This projection was only for the opening-day batting order and rotation.
The rest of the projected batting order is a carbon-copy of last season. Second baseman Marcus Semien and shortstop Corey Seager — who finished in the Top 3 in AL MVP voting last season — are in the top two spots.
Seager’s availability is in question after he had surgery to correct a sports hernia. The Rangers are optimistic he can be ready for opening day, but he will miss most of spring training.
Evan Carter would bat third and play left field in this projection. He moved into the No. 3 spot late in the postseason. He’s a leading candidate for AL Rookie of the Year.
Adolis García would bat fourth and play right field, followed by third baseman Josh Jung, first baseman Nathaniel Lowe and catcher Jonah Heim. Leody Taveras would play center field and bat ninth.
Three Rangers pitchers are not expected to be ready until midseason due to injuries — Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer and Tyler Mahle.
Nathan Eovaldi is the projected leader of the opening-day rotation after he had an exceptional postseason during the Rangers’ World Series run. The remainder of the rotation includes pitchers that started for the Rangers last season — Jon Gray, Andrew Heaney, Dane Dunning and Cody Bradford.
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