ARLINGTON -- On Sunday, Rangers manager Bruce Bochy hinted at the possibility that the club would have to send Corey Seager back to the 10-day injured list for the second time in less than two weeks. By Tuesday, that became a reality when Seager was placed on the IL (retroactive to Sunday) with a right hamstring strain.
It is a similar injury to the one that kept him out from April 23 to May 2. In a corresponding move Tuesday, catcher Kyle Higashioka (left intercostal strain) was activated from the IL. Higashioka appeared in two rehab games with Triple-A Round Rock, going 2-for-8 with two doubles.
The Rangers’ offense suffered without Seager during his most recent absence, when they lost eight of 10 games. Outside of an anomalous 15-2 rout of the Athletics on April 29, the Rangers scored only 14 runs in the other nine games (1.56 per game) and slashed .201/.235/.299.
“It is obviously discouraging, frustrating, but at the same time, we know he’ll be back,” Bochy said of Seager’s injury.
Bochy said Seager’s current strain is “in a little different area” of his hamstring than it was in April, but regardless, the Rangers are being extra cautious with their star shortstop, who is slashing .300/.346/.520 in 26 games this season.
“We want to make sure that this thing is healed up,” Bochy said. “We don’t want him playing at 75, 80 percent. It could be [more than 10 days]. I don’t know for sure.”
After Seager’s most recent IL visit, he started four consecutive games upon returning, then was out of the lineup three out of the next four games. He had two homers and a double in his last game action on Saturday.
Josh Smith played shortstop Friday night and Ezequiel Duran replaced Seager on Sunday. Bochy opted against using Seager as the designated hitter because swinging was what most affected his hamstring.
The Rangers need Seager to heal enough to be an everyday player again, Bochy said, noting that Seager is the type of player who is inclined to fight through an injury rather than miss playing time to recuperate.
“He’s going to try to play,” Bochy said. “He knows what he means to our club. ... We just want to get him right to where we don’t have to play him once or twice and [then] give him a couple days off. Just get him back to being able to go out there pretty much every day. He’s so important to this club. We have a lot of baseball left, and now’s the time to do that.”