Texas Rangers Manager Says Star Slugger Will Be Ready for Opening Day Despite Injury

Despite an injury scare, the Texas Rangers will have their star slugger for Opening Day.

Sep 25, 2024; Oakland, California, USA; Texas Rangers right fielder Adolis Garcia (53) gestures after hitting a two-run home run against the Oakland Athletics during the third inning at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum | Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images

The Texas Rangers got some scary news when it was revealed their slugger Aroldis Garcia was dealing with an oblique injury that caused him to get an MRI.

After he had a disappointing season in 2024, he's looking to rebound this year. Having an early setback was not what anyone wanted to hear, especially since their other star outfielder, Wyatt Langford, is dealing with an oblique issue of his own.

However, that scary news turned positive on Wednesday.

Per Shawn McFarland of The Dallas Morning News, manager Bruce Bochy announced that Garcia's injury was deemed "'not quite' a Grade 1 strain" which will allow the slugger to be ready for Opening Day.

Bruce Bochy said that Adolis Garcia’s oblique is “not quite” a Grade 1 strain. They believe he’ll miss less time than Wyatt Langford has missed and will be ready for opening day.

— Shawn McFarland (@McFarland_Shawn) March 5, 2025

This is a great sign for the Rangers.

A lot of their success in the coming season will come from the roster staying healthy after their group missed the second-most games out of any team in Major League Baseball last year.

Having Garcia on the shelf for any amount of time would have been frustrating, especially if that came on Day 1 of the 2025 campaign.

This will still be something to monitor, though.

While the damage isn't severe at this point in time, Texas will have to be smart with how they manage the recovery of Garcia while also making sure he's ready for the start of the season by getting him enough reps against Major League pitching.

Grade 1 oblique strains normally take 2-4 weeks to recover, and since Garcia's injury didn't rise to that level, that should give him roughly two weeks to ramp up for Opening Day.