Rangers star Corey Seager exited tonight’s sport towards the Orioles after being struck within the wrist space within the fifth inning by Baltimore lefty Cade Povich, as famous by a number of reporters (together with MLB.com’s Kennedi Landry) on X. The Rangers subsequently introduced that preliminary x-rays on Seager’s wrist had been unfavorable, although he’ll be evaluated additional tomorrow to find out the severity of the difficulty.
An absence of any size for the 30-year-old celebrity could be a brutal flip of occasions for the Rangers as they attempt to struggle their manner again into the AL playoff image. The membership at the moment sits at 37-45 coming into play this night, 9 video games again of the Mariners within the AL West and seven.5 video games again of the Royals for the ultimate AL Wild Card spot. With Texas at the moment buried behind the Pink Sox, Astros, Rays, and Blue Jays within the race to catch the Royals for that remaining playoff spot, the Rangers had been already going through an uphill climb as they search a chance to defend their 2023 World Sequence championship this fall.
Now, it appears attainable they’ll have to take action with out Seager, no less than in the intervening time. On the heels of a marketing campaign the place he slashed an unimaginable .327/.390/.623 en path to a second-place end behind Shohei Ohtani in AL MVP voting in addition to the second World Sequence MVP honors of his profession, the 10-year MLB veteran bought off to an uncharacteristically sluggish begin in April however shortly started to warmth up when the calendar flipped to Could.
Over the previous two months, Seager has slashed a superb .273/.356/.521 (139 wRC+) to boost his season-long determine to 116, though digging a bit of deeper into his numbers would counsel that even that quantity has some misfortune baked into it. Seager’s .277 BABIP in 71 video games this 12 months could be the second-lowest determine of his profession and simply the second time he’s posted a determine beneath .300. In the meantime, his .335 wOBA is a far cry from his anticipated .379 determine, the latter of which ranks 14th amongst certified hitters this 12 months, sandwiched between Bryce Harper and Mookie Betts.
Even setting apart Seager’s underlying efficiency and focusing purely on his manufacturing up to now, the shortstop’s 116 wRC+ is considered one of solely two above-average offensive performances the Rangers have gotten from certified hitters this season, trailing solely the implausible breakout efficiency of infielder Josh Smith. With key bats reminiscent of Marcus Semien and Adolis Garcia not but assembly expectations this season, high prospects Evan Carter and Wyatt Langford struggling by accidents and ineffectiveness of their rookie campaigns, and star third baseman Josh Jung sidelined by a wrist harm of his personal since early April, the Rangers lineup has in some methods leaned much more closely on Seager this season than it did throughout his MVP-caliber 2023 season.
Within the occasion that Seager misses time, Smith seems to be the almost definitely candidate to deal with shortstop in his absence, sliding over to the place from third base. Jung seemed to be nearing a return to motion not way back, though as famous by Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning Information the teen has been delayed in returning to taking batting follow by irritation in his ailing wrist. In line with Grant, Supervisor Bruce Bochy advised reporters previous to tonight’s sport that Jung is not going to swing this weekend and is headed to go to with a specialist on Monday to be re-evaluated. Even when that go to with a specialist finally ends up going properly and Jung is cleared to renew swinging, Grant suggests {that a} conservative method to his rehab may see him stay out till play resumes after the All Star break.
Ought to third base be left open by Smith taking on for Seager at shortstop, it seems probably that the Rangers would name up one other infielder reminiscent of Ezequiel Duran or Justin Foscue to pair with utility infielder Davis Wendzel on the scorching nook. Duran is essentially the most established massive leaguer of the three, having performed his manner into one thing of an on a regular basis function with the Rangers final 12 months in a bat-first utility function. The 25-year-old’s offense evaporated this 12 months, nonetheless, as he hit a paltry .256/.294/.324 in 58 video games earlier than being demoted to the minors. Foscue, in the meantime, is a former top-100 prospect with a profession .261/.396/.456 slash line on the Triple-A degree who has simply two massive league plate appearances below his belt. Both participant seems extra more likely to take the lion’s share of obtainable at-bats slightly than Wendzel, a 27-year-old rookie who has struggled badly on the plate with a wRC+ of simply 15 in 25 video games with the Rangers this 12 months.
