Rangers shortstop Corey Seager is expected to be activated prior to tonight’s game, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. The 29-year-old Seager, playing in the second season of a decade-long $325MM contract, has missed the past month due to a hamstring strain. He burst out of the gates with a .359/.469/.538 showing through his first 49 trips to the plate and went 2-for-8 with a double, a walk and no strikeouts in a brief three-game rehab assignment at Double-A. In Seager’s absence, 23-year-old Ezequiel Duran has filled in admirably at shortstop, batting .293/.328/.474 on the season, though his bat has cooled off in the past week or so. Manager Bruce Bochy has been impressed enough that he’s pledged to find “creative” ways to keep Duran in the lineup frequently even after Seager’s return.
A few more injury situations of particular note to keep an eye on around the league…
- Right-hander Walker Buehler is with the team at Dodger Stadium and will throw in the bullpen for the Major League staff to take a look at his progress in recovering from Tommy John surgery, tweets Juan Toribio of MLB.com. Walker is still a ways from being an option in the big leagues. The 28-year-old’s surgery was performed late last August, and the general expectation surrounding him has been that he’ll at best be an option in the final month or so of the season. Still, the fact that Buehler has already had multiple bullpen sessions in Arizona and is slated for more mound work this week at Dodger Stadium is encouraging for both the Dodgers and their fans.
- The Twins hope that right-hander Kenta Maeda can resume throwing off a mound by the end of the week, tweets Dan Hayes of The Athletic. Maeda hit the injured list with a triceps strain after being tattooed for 10 runs in three innings against the Yankees. He’d previously allowed six runs on 12 hits with a 12-to-1 K/BB ratio in 13 innings (4.15 ERA) after missing the entire 2022 season. The Twins’ rotation depth has been tested early, with Bailey Ober and Louie Varland stepping in for the injured Maeda and Tyler Mahle (Tommy John surgery). A healthy Maeda would again give the Twins six candidates for rotation work, but injuries tend to sort these issues out. And, if everyone is healthy at the same time, the Twins could opt to use Maeda in relief as a means of monitoring his workload after not throwing a pitch last season.
- Brewers infielder Keston Hiura, currently playing with their Triple-A club, will miss several weeks due to a posterior cruciate ligament injury in his left knee, tweets Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. Hiura won’t require surgery, but the expectation is that he’ll be out of game action until late next month. It’s a tough blow for the former top prospect, who was hoping to play his way back onto the big league roster after clearing outright waivers earlier this year. He’s out to a .331/.396/.678 start with a dozen home runs through 134 plate appearances with Nashville this season and has trimmed his strikeout rate there to 24.6%. Hiura has had similar stretches in Triple-A before, however, and his familiar strikeout woes have regularly resurfaced upon being promoted back to the big leagues. He batted .226/.316/.449 with the Brewers last year (115 wRC+), but because of a staggering 41.7% strikeout rate, he needed a .355 average on balls in play to get to that middling .226 batting average.
Nice to see Seager ready for some night games. He been working and practicing
Now that he is back, he’ll be a travellin’ man the rest of the season.
That’s right, cause this land his his land…this land is my land.
The odds of Buehler being available t0 pitch this season are approximately zero to none, and if even by some miracle he does make it back it will be in a very limited role.
It was pretty nice how Maeda was greeted by Dodger fans last night. OTOH, Correa…
Walker had TJS August5, 2015 and was in the GCL by the end of August 2016 and pitched 3 games for Great Lakes before the Midwest league season ended Sept 7th. His TJS was August 22, 2022, so tacking on 17 days probably puts him on the LA staff in mid September assuming an identical rate of healing.
Fun fact: the first player in history to have TJS and make the Hall of Fame…….Paul Molitor……
Huge assumption. The player is now eight years older, and on his second TJ. A year is generally the minimum time for a TJ recovery, not the average.
A huge assumption on a site for rumors…….I like it, seems like they go hand in hand
Ha. No argument there!
Maybe Buehler can have a limited bullpen role at the very least. Correa is just going to have to take those boos in LA for the rest of his career, nothing he can do about it.
I don’t feel sorry for the guy, but he does look genuinely hurt by how enthusiastically Dodger fans boo him and chant “cheater cheater.” I can’t believe anyone imagined the Dodgers would seriously consider signing him.
He will be pitching by the end of season. It’s just a matter if the Dodgers want to rely on him in the playoffs
You’re predicting a perfect recovery with no setbacks whatsoever?
Hiura: Might explain why Ruf was signed by the Brewers.
Could also have been that Voit went on the IL…….
I think it has more to with Rufs potential against LHP. If he didn’t have that going for him brewers wouldn’t have brought him in, imo
Hiura’s Ruf spring led to Voit making the team and Darren taking his place…
Don’t rush Buehler back, have him ready for next year.
The Twins did well last season until injuries wrecked their season. Kenta Maeda can’t be counted on and they’re down two other starters. Will the Twins be active at the deadline?