'You Never Know With Corey.' How Close Is Corey Seager's Return? Texas Rangers Bruce Bochy Updates Stars Status
The hope was that Corey Seager would be taking swings and groundballs before Texas Rangers spring training wrapped up in late March.
That's still a possibility, but a recent bout with the flu may have slowed Seager's progress.
Then again, this is Corey Seager we're talking about. He showed last season that he didn't need a huge ramp-up before belting balls into the cheap seats when returning from a five-week injury in 2023.
"I'm hopeful, to be honest," Rangers manager Bruce Bochy told reporters. "I don't know for sure. I talked to him just briefly today, but you know he got the flu that probably slowed things down just a hair. But we'll see where we're at the end of this week."
Even if Seager is unable to face live pitching in Surprise, he'll still have a couple of spring games available against the Boston Red Sox on March 25-26 at Globe Life Field in Arlington before the March 28 season opener against the Chicago Cubs at GLF.
It's also entirely possible the club won't push the Silver Slugger shortstop into an early return, instead letting him come back the first week of April if doctors and trainers deem it a wiser move long-term.
"It's going to be close whether he will get some action here or not," Bochy said. "Now, I'll say this with Corey. We saw this last year when he was out for five weeks and we were thinking [he'll need a] rehab a game or two and he took some live BP and he was in the lineup the next day, so you never know with him."
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