Texas Rangers Say They Must 'Step Up' With Seager Out

ARLINGTON, Texas — The shock of Corey Seager’s injury has worn off for the Texas Rangers. The reality has set it. It’s going to be a while before he returns.

The Rangers, veteran and youngster alike, have to make the best of it.

“It’s a tough, tough pill to swallow,” Rangers catcher Jonah Heim said Wednesday, a night after his walk-off, 10th inning home run gave the Rangers an 8-5 win over the Kansas City Royals. “Somebody is going to have to step up and we trust whatever we put out there. Like they say, ‘The line keeps moving.’”

What Heim means is that there isn’t just one player that will replace what Seager brought to the table.

The Rangers announced that Seager would move to the 10-day injured list with what the team is calling a Grade 2 left hamstring strain. Neither Rangers manager Bruce Bochy nor Seager would put an official timeline on his injury. Seager suffered a hamstring injury in 2019 with the Los Angeles Dodgers that kept him out for about a month.

Bochy isn’t going to rush Seager. He believes that between Josh Smith, who replaced Seager on Tuesday night and will start on Wednesday, and Ezequiel Duran, the Rangers have enough to handle shortstop.

“Smitty will get a lot of action at short. Duran got a lot of action there in the spring. And they’ll see some time there and we’ll all hold down the fort until we get (Seager) back,” Bochy said.

Bochy knows it’s a loss in the lineup. He said Seager was “locked in” before the injury. Seager was batting .359 with four RBI and a home run, along with a .469 on-base percentage. In the last seven games Seager batted .417.

Smith won’t be that type of player. No one is expecting him to be that player.

“He’s a special player,” Smith said of Seager. “And he’s one of the leaders on this team. So we’re definitely going to miss that from him. Some other guys are going to have to step up. But the way he started the season, he just carried that over from the spring. He’s one of the best hitters I’ve ever seen. It stinks what happened to him.”

Bochy said he wants all his players healthy but has managed long enough — 25 years — to know injuries happen. That’s why Texas worked so hard in the spring to cultivate ways for both Smith and Duran to remain with the team, even though they weren’t going to be everyday players.

Smith and Duran showed enough in Spring Training for Bochy to know that both could play infield and outfield if they made the team. With Seager moving to the IL, and with Leody Taveras on his way back from Triple-A Round Rock as a result, Smith and Duran can share time at short. Though Bochy said that, for now, he envisions Smith getting the “lion’s share” of reps at the position.

Moments like this are why you build that type of depth. Marcus Semien, one of the team’s most veteran players, has been here before. He said he has faith in players like Smith and Duran to give the Rangers what they need while Seager is gone.

Semien isn’t worried about that, nor is he worried about Seager’s recovery.

“Corey is going to get himself right.” Semien said. “He’s professional. He’s going to get back on the field. And hopefully by that time the rest of us will be hitting like he was."

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