The Rangers announced Tuesday that they’ve placed shortstop Corey Seager on the 10-day injured list. The move is retroactive to May 11. Seager is again dealing with a right hamstring strain — the same injury that sent him to the IL from April 23 to May 3. Catcher Kyle Higashioka has been reinstated from the 10-day IL in a corresponding move. He’d missed the previous 12 days with an intercostal strain.
It’s surely a frustrating situation for Seager and the Rangers. As mentioned, he only just returned from the IL barely a week ago, but it seems he wasn’t 100% healthy. He only played once in the past week and the club has now decided to put him back on the shelf.
Since the move is retroactive, he could potentially return in just over a week. Regardless, the Rangers will be without one of their better bats for a while. The club’s offense has scuffled enough this year to force various changes, including a coaching staff shake-up. Seager has not been a part of the problem when in the lineup. He has a .300/.346/.520 line and 143 wRC+ for the year. He’s one of just three players on the team with at least 100 plate appearances and a wRC+ above 113, with Wyatt Langford and Josh Smith being the others.
Despite that, the club has managed to stay afloat in the American League playoff race, currently sporting a 21-21 record. They will now have to try to keep things rolling without one of their best players.
The last time Seager was on the IL, Smith took over as the regular shortstop, though Smith is himself banged up. He missed Monday’s game due to back soreness and is out again today, with Ezequiel Durán covering short for those two games. Sam Haggerty might be the next line of defense at the position while Smith is out.
Assuming Smith feels better in a day or two, he would jump back in there. As mentioned, he is one of the Rangers having a great year at the plate, currently sporting a .316/.395/.474 line and 149 wRC+. Durán, on the other hand, is hitting .130/.160/.174.
Higashioka’s reinstatement will give the Rangers three catchers. When Higashioka’s injury popped up a few weeks ago, Tucker Barnhart was selected to the roster to serve as Jonah Heim’s backup. Heim is catching tonight with Higashioka in the designated hitter spot. Joc Pederson is often the DH but he doesn’t start against lefties, so perhaps Higashioka will take the small side of a platoon with him at times. The Rangers are facing southpaw Kyle Freeland and the Rockies tonight.
Teams are sometimes reluctant to use a catcher in the DH spot, as an injury to the player behind the plate would then force them to move the DH to the catcher position. Moving a DH into any defensive spot means a team forfeits its DH and puts the pitcher into the lineup. Having a third catcher on hand gives the club a chance to avoid that scenario.
Photo courtesy of Kevin Jairaj, Imagn Images
This contract is not gonna age well.
They got their ring the rest is gravy
Most contracts don’t, but certain teams are willing to deal with the back half for the chance to compete in the WS
Only 6-1/2 years left @ $31.5 mill. per season. What could go wrong???
Seager gets hurt a lot but is still elite when he is on the field. The bat hasn’t slowed down at all.
Have to get him to first base and bring up Walcott in 26 or 27
Corey Seagar has one of the more well known and documented medical histories in the game of baseball.
It’s very hard to justify taking him off the IL too early, only to have to put him right back on again only a few days later.
Cal’s streak still safe.
This comment is amazing.
when was it ever in peril
This is the difference of being one of the all time icons of the game and really good player that almost makes the hall of fame. Constant injuries.
Read this. No way Curry plays tomorrow.
Who cares?..The NBA is ultra boring and not too dissimilar to a game of “Horse”.
It’s just a contest to see who can get off the most 30 ft jumpshots. This style diminishes and devalues athleticism and turns the NBA into a yawn and snooze fest.
Degrom contract will be tougher. They should trade degrom the next time he’s healthy
He’s been healthy all year. Why would they trade him when he’s a huge part in if they contend for the World Series.