Corey Seager was placed on the 10-day injured list on Wednesday due to discomfort in his right hip, which could potentially end his third season with the Texas Rangers.
The decision was made before the Rangers’ final game against the New York Yankees. Seager did not play on Tuesday night after being the designated hitter in the first game of the series.
He also missed Friday’s opener against Oakland because of the hip issue. Manager Bruce Bochy mentioned that Seager has been experiencing soreness for about a month.
General manager Chris Young said the team did not have a final medical diagnosis to confirm that Seager’s season is over with 23 games left, but Bochy suggested that might be the case.
“It’s good that we are taking care of it,” Bochy said. “Get this done so he can heal up over the winter and be ready for next spring.”
Young, Bochy, and Seager noted that the decision to place him on the IL was influenced by Seager missing almost all of spring training after having surgery in January to fix a sports hernia.
When asked if he would play again this season, Seager responded with “I hope so,” but he was focused on the off season.
“You can’t miss two offseasons,” Seager said. “You’ve got to be healthy and get back into the work and get back into shape. Didn’t really have any buildup last year coming into the season. It’s something that you need to have.”
The Rangers share this concern after Seager’s delayed offseason due to the hernia surgery, which kept him out of most of spring training.
“The season went so long for a great reason,” Young said. “And then when Corey’s offseason training began, he felt the discomfort, and we were at a point in the offseason where it was late, by no fault of anybody’s, just the nature of the timing.”
“This year, if he’s dealing with an issue and we don’t know what it is yet, diagnosing it and understanding what it is, and then creating a rehab plan, whatever that may be, to ensure he has a normal offseason, is extremely important.”
Texas was 8 1/2 games behind the last AL wild card spot going into their final game against New York. Seager’s absence will give more playing time to Josh Smith at shortstop.
The Rangers promoted outfielder Sandro Fabian from Triple-A Round Rock to replace Seager. They made space for Fabian on the 40-man roster by moving right-hander Jon Gray (right foot) to the 60-day IL.
“I hate to say this, but it’s one of the positives of where we are in the standings in September,” Young said. “With an expanded roster, we get a chance to look at some players and evaluate who might make an impact in 2025 and beyond.”
Seager is batting .278 with 30 home runs and 74 RBIs in 123 games. He has hit 30 homers for the third season in a row since signing his $325 million, 10-year contract with Texas as a free agent.
After a brief spring training, Seager had only two homers and eight RBIs in his first 29 regular-season games. However, since May 3, the 30-year-old has batted .296 with 27 homers and 66 RBIs.
“As good as he is, you’ve got to be somewhat healthy to hit 30 home runs, especially given how he started,” Bochy said. “It was awful, and he’ll tell you that. For three months or so, he was healthy.”
