Texas Rangers Star Corey Seager Talks Hamstring Injury, Timeline
ARLINGTON, Texas — It was one step, but Texas Rangers shortstop Corey Seager knew it.
He was thinking triple all the way after an opposite-field hit in the fifth inning against the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday. But as he was running to second, he felt the hamstring tighten up.
“It was one step, which was weird,” Seager said before Wednesday's series finale with the Royals. “ I don’t think I’ve ever had that.”
The Rangers placed Seager on the 10-day injured list with a Grade 2 left hamstring strain. Seager said the injury is on the outside bottom of the hamstring.
Multiple reports have set the recovery time as four weeks. The Rangers and Seager aren’t putting a timeline on it for now.
“There’s no expectations,” Seager said. “We’re just treating this as we go. You know, putting timetables is almost the worst thing you can do. You’re either trying to reach them for the wrong reasons or you’re not where you want to be and it seems like you’ve slowed down.”
Seager couldn’t recall the grade of the hamstring strain he had in 2019 with the Los Angeles Dodgers. But he did say it was the same hamstring. That injury kept him out for a month.
The only other time Seager could recall having a hamstring injury was early in his professional baseball career in the Dodgers organization back in 2012 or 2013. He couldn’t be more precise.
But the fact that it is Seager’s third hamstring injury means the Rangers will be cautious.
“We always try to be on the side of caution because you can end up having a setback and it’s worse,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “When he’s ready, we’ll have him back.”
Josh Smith will start in Seager’s place on Wednesday and bat second. Bochy said the Rangers will re-evaluate the batting order during Thursday’s off-day. But he wanted to do as little as possible to disrupt the lineup.
There is no good time for an injury and this does come with Seager off to a great start at the plate. Even though he only has one home run, he is batting .359 with four RBI and a .469 on-base percentage. In the last seven games, Seager hit .417.
His double-play partner, Marcus Semien, lamented that he hasn’t gotten on base enough to give Seager more RBI chances.
Now, Seager has to watch from the bench, recover and stay positive during a frustrating situation.
“There’s nothing I can do now except support my teammates and try to be healthy,” Seager said. “How that looks I don’t know yet. It’ll be dependent on how I feel and stuff like that. I just don’t want to be a distraction. Be around as much as possible, but not be in anybody’s way.”
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