Corey Seager‘s return to the Rangers will last less than a week. Texas is placing it star shortstop on the injured list and recalling infielder/outfielder Josh Smith from Triple-A Round Rock, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. It’s the third IL stint of the season for the 32-year-old Seager, who exited yesterday’s game after experiencing back pain in the first inning. The team has yet to indicate how much time Seager is expected to miss this time around.
Seager was out from mid-May through early June due to his clearly still-ailing back. He returned to play in five games before being placed back in the injured list, this time due to concussion symptoms stemming from a collision at home plate. He returned on June 25, went 1-for-15 with a homer in three games, and is now back on the shelf.
Injuries have limited Seager, a five-time All-Star, to just 219 unproductive plate appearances this season. He’s hitting only .182/.292/.374 on the season — nowhere close to last year’s .271/.373/.487 slash or to the terrific .278/.355/.517 line he produced in his first four seasons with Texas.
The Rangers have won six straight games, propelling themselves to first place in the American League West. They’re up a half game over the Mariners, two over the Astros and four over the A’s in a tightly contested division. That makes the Seager injury particularly ill-timed. They’ll try to finish off a sweep of the Guardians today before closing out the first half with a nine-game homestand featuring three apiece versus the Tigers, Angels and Astros.
With Seager likely out through the All-Star break, the Rangers can mix and match with Ezequiel Duran, Smith and freshly promoted rookie Cameron Cauley at shortstop. Manager Skip Schumaker can play matchups to his liking. Duran has already logged 242 innings at short this season and turned in sound defensive grades in that limited sample. Duran has been playing left field amid other Rangers injuries recently, however. Cauley is arguably the best defensive option of the bunch and certainly offers the most speed. Smith can fill in at just about any position on the diamond other than catcher.
