One Thing Rangers’ Corey Seager Isn’t Willing to Change Amid Injury Woes

The Texas Rangers need Corey Seager back. But the timeline and what he’s willing to do when he returns bring more questions.

Texas Rangers shortstop Corey Seager. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Corey Seager has been on the injured list three times this season. It’s becoming a trend for the Texas Rangers shortstop since 2023.

He’s been on the injured list every year he’s been with the Rangers since he played nearly every game in 2022. In 2023 it was a hamstring and a right thumb strain. In 2024 it was two sports hernia surgeries that bookended the season. In 2025 it was a hamstring strain that forced two IL stints along with appendectomy.

This year it’s been a lower back, a concussion and the same lower back that landed him on the injured list last week. He’s eligible to return later this week, but unlike Wyatt Langford, who is on the IL with a hamstring injury, he’s not progressing as fast.

Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News (subscription required) talked with Seager on Tuesday. There wasn’t much of an update. He’s still in treatment for the back. He isn’t swinging a bat. He isn’t ready for baseball activities, much less a rehab assignment.

But there was one answer that was interesting, one that the team may have to deal with at some point.

Corey Seager’s One Word Answer

Texas Rangers shortstop Corey Seager. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Grant asked Seager whether it was time for him to consider changing to a different position. The logic? Seager is 32 years old, he has five years left on his contract and back issues can be persistent. Moving from shortstop to a position that is less taxing physically, such as first base or even designated hitter, might allow Seager to stay on the field more.

His answer was one word, and it was clear.

“No,” Seager said to Grant.

He wouldn’t be the first player to change positions later in his career to prolong it and avoid injuries. Many catchers have done it, for example. In some cases, players who are liabilities as defenders move to DH. Seager is not an elite defender, but he is not a liability at shortstop. But perhaps continuing to play the position is the liability?

It doesn’t help that Seager is mired in the worst start and slump of his career. Before his first IL stint in May, he went 27 straight at-bats without a hit. He’s slashing .182/.292/.374 with 10 home runs and 25 RBI in 51 games. He hasn’t played more than 123 games in any of the last three years, and he is on a pace that won’t allow him to reach that again in 2025.  

The Rangers signed Seager to a 10-year contract, the biggest in team history, for his offense first. If he can’t play, he can’t hit. If he’s unwilling to move positions to play more then it creates a huge issue for the Rangers long-term.