Latest Injured Rangers Slugger Takes Cuts in Live Batting Practice

The Texas Rangers are working on getting a second slugger back in their lineup, though the timeline is less precise than another injured player.

Texas Rangers manager Skip Schumaker. | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

For the second straight day the Texas Rangers conducted a live batting practice for an injured player at Globe Life Field. This time, it was a left-handed hitter.

One day after Wyatt Langford took his cuts in a live batting practice at GLF, left-handed hitting shortstop Corey Seager took his first full-strength cuts against live pitching since his back injury was slow to progress last weekend in Anaheim.

Live batting practice is usually the final step for a player before they go on an injury rehab assignment. Langford will start his rehab at Triple-A Round Rock on Saturday. That won't be the case for Seager, per Rangers manager Skip Schumaker.

Corey Seager’s Progress from Injury

Seager is likely to need more time than Langford before he goes on a rehab assignment. The question is when that might be? Schumaker was clear on Friday that the live batting practices was not Seager’s final step.

“I don’t know if it’s going to be that quick,” Schumaker said. “He’s going take some swings [Friday], play catch and see how the running goes.”

Schumaker told reporters on Saturday the live BP went well, per MLB.com. Seager also took ground balls at shortstop for the second straight day.

Schumaker said the running has been the main hurdle for the two-time World Series MVP. He also said the “rotation stuff,” as in swinging, has been fine. But if Seager is going to play his position and run the bases, he needs to clear the running hurdle. He said he doesn’t have a “soft target” date for Seager’s return.

Seager was scratched from the Rangers’ contest with Houston on May 15 with what the Rangers called back spasms. Three days later Texas put him on the injured list with lower back inflammation.

The hope was that Seager would be able to spend the minimum 10 days on the IL and return for this homestand. But while in Anaheim his progress from the injuries slowed and the Rangers had to decelerate his rehab process.

Seager still has a slump to shed when he returns. He was hitless in his final 27 at-bats before he went on the IL. For the season he was slashing 179/.286/.353 with four home runs and 20 RBI, the worst slump of his career.

With the Rangers he’s never hit worse than .245 and that was his first season with the team in 2022. He nearly won a batting title in 2023 with a .327 average and was second in American League MVP voting behind Shohei Ohtani, then of the Los Angeles Angels.