The Rangers announced they’ve selected infielder Davis Wendzel onto the major league roster. Rookie infielder Justin Foscue has been placed on the 10-day injured list as a result of a left oblique strain. To clear space on the 40-man roster, Texas transferred third baseman Josh Jung from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list.
Wendzel, 26, is headed to the big leagues for the first time. Texas took the right-handed hitter 41st overall in the 2019 draft. The Baylor product hasn’t moved through the ranks as quickly as the team likely envisioned on draft day, but he’s now headed to Globe Life Field after parts of five seasons in the minors.
Within his first two-plus seasons in pro ball, Wendzel had reached the Triple-A level. He has played there since 2022. Wendzel struggled in his first look at Triple-A pitching, hitting .207/.287/.398 during the ’22 campaign. He improved in his second season, connecting on 30 homers with a roughly average .236/.361/.477 overall line. Wendzel went unselected in the Rule 5 draft but he’s been off to a blistering start this year. Over his first nine contests, he’s hitting .314/.419/.657 with a trio of homers and four walks and strikeouts apiece in 43 trips to the plate.
That excellent first week surely played a role in Wendzel’s first promotion, but his call is also motivated in part by injuries to players above him on the third base depth chart. Jung broke his right wrist when he was hit by a pitch a few days into the season. He underwent surgery and will miss 8-10 weeks, making his move to the 60-day IL a formality. Jung’s injury spurred Foscue’s first MLB call, but the Mississippi State product lands on the shelf himself after just two plate appearances. The Rangers didn’t provide a timetable for his return. Depending on their severity, oblique strains sometimes lead to absences in excess of a month.
Since Jung went down, the Rangers have relied on Josh Smith as their primary third baseman. That’ll likely continue, with righty-hitting Ezequiel Duran on hand as a complement to Smith’s left-handed bat. Wendzel adds another righty bat to that mix and has the ability to back up the middle infield duo of Corey Seager and Marcus Semien.
bruh
Also very interested in Davis Wendzel. He’s basically a Josh Smith 2.0.
I think he’s his own player. More power than smith, worse glove and not a runner. But yeah like you I am intrigued
When the Rangers drafted him, his MLB comp comparison was Justin turner obviously, the average is not there, though.
He hit 30 homers AAA last year Josh Smith does not have that power
Josh Jung hasn’t shown that much power yet either at any level mostly due to injuries unfortunately
30 homers in 152 games in mlb.
How on God’s green earth do you get hurt not playing… And you’re young smh
You do realize players do way more than just the games you watch on TV, right?
Well yea but the dude is what like 19? Shouldn’t be breaking down in warmups/weightroom/non max effort game situation.
I mean a player jogging and getting foot caught in turf could tear an acl. that I’d be like hey freak accident. But a muscle strain makes it seem like he didn’t warm up properly or just was going too hard at whatever he was doing.
Foscue is 25 and there’s a chance he could have injured himself batting last night.
Players today are just not as durable as the old guys of 30 to 50 years ago.
Three former 1st round 3B drafted by the same team in one transaction!
Something finally clicked for Wendzel offensively last season, and he was destroying AAA pitching so far this year. He could end up being a very solid utility guy, if not more than that. One to keep an eye on.
I believe he will have a more productive career than Foscue
May as well have let him take some hacks they couldnt catch a flippin cold after the first inning….paaaaathetic
A.314 batting average with three home runs in 41 minor league at bats is a good start. It is not “blistering. Tyler O’Neil batting .357 with five home runs in 28 at bats and an OPS of 1.406 is off to a blistering start (in the major leagues – all road games)
I came here for what I hoped would be some Wetzel’s
Pretzels® comments, but alas…
Rangers are going to regret not resigning Jordan Montgomery as the injuries mount.
Careful you’ll have people call you crazy or tell you “we won the WS, we can do whatever we want”
For the record I agree with you and I’ve been saying it all off season. But no they’d rather sign mahle who is going to miss half the year.
And after tonight’s game, I ask again….yall still think we shouldn’t have signed a closer? Jose ain’t the anwser. You can’t have a closer that walks at minimum 1 per inning. I suppose Yates could be the closer but they keep giving it to Jose smh