Arlington — The Rangers have already gone without star shortstop Corey Seager for a month this season, and they’ll have to go another couple of weeks again.
Before the 16-3 loss to the Dodgers on Saturday, the club announced that Seger landed on the 10-day injured list for the second time in 2023, this time due to a sprained right thumb. He was removed from Friday night’s loss against the Dodgers in the eighth inning after jamming his thumb on a slide to second base.
“It was painful,” said Seeger. “It’s a pity. … You obviously don’t want anything so bad, and it can be [been] Much worse than it was.”
The X-ray was negative on Friday, and the MRI on Saturday showed no structural damage, so Seager should only need about 10 full days to allow the inflammation to subside. The only other hand injury Seager suffered in his senior football career was a metatarsal fracture in his right hand in 2021 with the Dodgers.
“I’m sore and swollen, but it’s kind of expected,” said Seeger. “Sorry, I don’t have any answers because I don’t know where I am. So we’ll kind of see what happens.”
This season, Seager hits . 350 with 15 home runs, 58 RBIs, and a 1.044 OPS in 66 games while ranking among the AL leaders in doubles (T-2nd, 29), extra base hits (5th, 44) and RBIs (T-13). He missed 31 games from April 12 to May 17 due to a left hamstring strain, but hasn’t missed a move since returning. In 55 games since leaving the IL, Seager has batted . 348/. 402/. 647 with 14 home runs, 25 doubles, and 54 RBI.
But the Rangers should be in good hands again without him.
Without Seger the first time around, the Rangers went 19-13 and the offense thrived.
The Texas lineup was one of the best in MLB over that period, slashing .271/.342/.450 with 119 wRC+ as a team. Their 200th run was the most in MLB during that time period.
“Look, I’m going to say this a lot – when something like this happens, you don’t have a choice but to move on,” said manager Bruce Bochy. “It’s what we’re going to do, and we’ve had to do it before, so we know we can. We’re obviously going to miss Curry. I mean, that guy, what a great player he is.
“So I think we got the best news we could about his situation. It will be a little while, but it’s not what it could have been, so I’ll take the news we got. I take that as good news. When I first heard about it, I was really worried, but it was good news.”
And they should be set at Shortstop as well.
In Seger’s absence earlier in the season, utility worker Ezequiel Duran started the bulk of matches at short notice. In 29 games (26 starts) while Seager was at IL, Duran slashed . 303/. 339/. 532 with six home runs and 21 RBI. Duran started at shortstop on Saturday for the second game against the Dodgers.
Duran went 1-for-3 with a walk and a run scored in Saturday’s loss.
“It’s really annoying with Curry going down, but at the same time, he went down earlier in the year and the team went up,” said starter Dane Dunning, who gave up five runs in three innings. “I feel like our team is competitive enough and talented enough to be able to do it again. Obviously it hurts us a little bit with the Curry touchdown, but Zeke has been an exceptional hitter, great at the plate and he’s a great defender as well.
Bochy added that he expects to build his lineup similarly to when he was going to be drafted out the first time, and has been encouraged by how the whole team has responded.
“It’s a great message to the club of how well they did when they went down before,” Bochy said. “It shows that it’s not always just one player. It’s nine guys, and those guys showed a lot of determination the last time it happened, and that’s what we have to do now. You don’t have a choice. So here we are.”
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