Fourteen players from Alabama high schools and colleges appeared on the field during the first week of the Major League season, and No. 15 could make his 2024 debut on Friday.

If that happens, it also would mark Justin Foscue’s big-league debut.

A former Grissom High School standout, Foscue started the season at Triple-A Round Rock, but the Texas Rangers called him up on Tuesday after third baseman Josh Jung suffered a fractured wrist when hit by a pitch.

Foscue did not play in the Rangers’ games on Tuesday and Wednesday. Texas returns to the field on Friday night against the Houston Astros.

The infielder joined the Rangers organization as the 14th pick in the 2020 draft.

A shortstop at Grissom, Foscue hit .318 with six home runs, eight doubles, 29 RBIs and 11 steals as a senior while helping the Tigers reach the AHSAA Class 7A quarterfinals in 2017. The Huntsville City School coaches picked Foscue as the city’s Player of the Year for the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

As the second baseman for Mississippi State’s College World Series team in 2019, Foscue hit .331 with 66 runs, 22 doubles, 14 home runs, 60 RBIs and .564 slugging percentage in 67 games.

Last season with Round Rock, Foscue hit .266 with 94 runs, 31 doubles, four triples, 18 home runs, 84 RBIs and 14 stolen bases. He had a .394 on-base average as he walked more than he struck out with 85 walks and 70 strikeouts.

Pitcher Casey Mize did not make his Major League debut on Thursday, but the former Springville High School and Auburn standout did make his first regular-season appearance for the Detroit Tigers since April 14, 2022. Tommy John and back surgeries kept Mize sidelined.

In the Tigers’ 6-3, 11-inning victory over the New York Mets on Thursday, Mize worked 4.1 innings, yielded three runs on five hits and two walks and struck out four.

“I don’t know if there was one moment that I took it all in,” Mize said. “I don’t want to view anything as a finish line or that this thing is over with, because it’s not. … I got to keep going, pushing for more and continuing to get better. I feel really good about it.”

Other players from Alabama high schools and colleges who appeared in the first week of the MLB season included:

· A two-time All-Star and former American League batting champ, shortstop Tim Anderson (Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa) is in the Miami Marlins’ lineup in 2024 after eight seasons with the Chicago White Sox.

· Graham Ashcraft (Huntville, UAB) has started his third season in the Cincinnati Reds’ rotation. In his first outing on Monday, he yielded two earned runs on four hits and one walk while striking out five in six innings but took the loss in a 9-4 setback against the Philadelphia Phillies.

· Garrett Cooper (Auburn) didn’t sign with the Chicago Cubs until March 2, but the 2022 National League All-Star already has had a big game. In a 12-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday, Cooper came up a single short of hitting for the cycle.

· Back from an arm injury that cut short his 2023 season, St. Louis Cardinals jack-of-all-trades Brendan Donovan (Enterprise, South Alabama) played only two positions in the first week of the season – left field in seven games and second base in one. He homered in a 6-2 victory over the San Diego Padres on Monday.

· Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson (Morgan Academy) won the American League Rookie of the Year Award in 2023, when he hit 28 home runs. He had a home run and a triple in a 13-4 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday.

· New York Yankees reliever Clay Holmes (Slocomb) posted three saves in a sweep of the season-opening series against the Houston Texans after posting 24 saves last season. Holmes picked up a pitching victory in his fourth appearance of 2023.

· Second baseman Edouard Julien (Auburn) made a slow start in his second season with the Minnesota Twins. In his first six games, Julien had a .150 batting average (with a home run) after hitting .263 as a rookie in 2023.

· Reliever Craig Kimbrel (Lee-Huntsville, Wallace State) started his 15th MLB season, but it’s the first in the Baltimore Orioles’ bullpen for the nine-time All-Star. With 417 saves, Kimbrel ranks eighth in MLB history.

· After having Tommy John surgery in August 2022, reliever Tanner Rainey (West Alabama) made only one appearance in the 2023 season. He’s back in Washington Nationals’ bullpen in 2024 and has pitched three times this season.

· In his 16th MLB season, David Robertson (Paul Bryant, Alabama) has come out of the Texas bullpen four times in the Rangers’ six games, leaving him three short of becoming the 55th player in MLB history to pitch in 800.

· Outfielder Bubba Thompson (McGill-Toolen) played in 60 games for the Texas Rangers last season. Since then, he’s been on the roster of the New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins before coming to the Cincinnati Reds in time for spring training. In the first week of the season, Thompson stole three bases and scored three runs as a pinch-runner without coming to the plate for Cincinnati.

· Pitcher Spencer Turnbull (Alabama) made his first start for the Philadelphia Phillies one to remember on Monday. In the Phillies’ 9-4 victory over the Cincinnati Reds, Turnbull earned the pitching victory as he yielded one unearned run on three hits. After spending his previous seasons with the Detroit Tigers, Turnbull became the first pitcher in franchise history to strike out at least seven without giving up an earned run or a walk in his Philadelphia debut.

· Boston Red Sox pitcher Garrett Whitlock (UAB) had a trying 2023 season. But he started the 2024 campaign by yielding one run on three hits while striking out eight in five innings to earn the pitching win in a 5-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Sunday.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.