Two Numbers Say Rangers Slugger Corey Seager Will Emerge from Slump

Texas Rangers fans are used to excellence or injuries when it comes to shortstop Corey Seager. But not slumps.

Seager is a lifetime .287 hitter who tends to be a consistent force at the plate. If he experiences a slump, it’s usually short-lived. His methodical process and preparation tend to help him hit through it.

To start the season, he was healthy and ready to roll. On April 1 he was batting .318. At the end of the Rangers’ first homestand he was batting .238. When he returned home from the 10-day road trip he was batting .200. Seager lost 118 points on his batting average in 19 days. For context, his worst full-season batting average was .245, his first season with the Rangers in 2022.

After Tuesday’s opener with Pittsburgh, he went 1-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored, along with a strikeout. Now, Seager must solve this riddle while at Globe Life Field, which hasn’t been treating Rangers batters well at all in more than a year. History says he’ll figure it out. For now, it’s as rough a start as he’s had with Texas.

Here’s a look at Seager after 23 games.

Corey Seager At a Glance

This is Corey Seager’s second time back at Dodger Stadium since leaving the team.

It’s also his second time hitting a 3-run home run against the Dodgers since leaving.

That hurts a BIT 😂 pic.twitter.com/3ZP4rrRs4T
— Dodgers Nation (@DodgersNation) April 11, 2026

Here are Seager’s baseline numbers after 23 games:

Slash line of .203.323/.430 with a .753 OPS with five home runs and 13 RBI. He also had three doubles and has drawn 14 walks against 24 strikeouts.

Seager has collected a bWAR of 0.8. His career best was 7.2 in 2023 when he played for the Rangers, finished second in AL MVP voting and helped the franchise win the World Series. That season he batted .327 with 33 home runs and 96 RBI, all career bests for a season.

Seager’s splits against left-handed and right-handed pitching were even going into the homestand — .200. He hit all his home runs and drove in all but one of his RBI against right-handers, so there was a distinct difference in slugging percentage.

Statcast Numbers

Texas Rangers shortstop Corey Seager prepares to swing his bat at a baseball. — Texas Rangers shortstop Corey Seager. | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Even with the slump, two numbers really stand out as signs he'll break out of this. First his barrel percentage, which is 16.7% and is in the 91st percentile in baseball. Essentially, he’s making good contact, which accounts for high exit velocity numbers (90.3 mph, 65th percentile). If Seager were to maintain that barrel percentage for the season it would be the best of his career.

The second is his walk percentage, which is 15.2% and is in the 86th percentile. Seager has always been an aggressive hitter. But he’s proving to be a bit choosier and a bit more patient early. If he maintains that walk rate it would be the best of his career. Even with the slump he’s still finding ways to get on base and that tends to help break slumps.

One thing of concern early is the whiff rate. It’s at 32.6 percent and if he keeps that pace, it will be the worst single season of his career. The good news is that in a full season it’s never been higher than 28.1%. Last year it was 27.9%. Chances are that rate will come down as the season progresses.

The Bottom Line So Far

Seager is in a slump. Of that there is no question. But there few hitters on the Rangers that can hit their way out of it the way he can and his track record suggest Texas should give him the time to do that. His barrel percentage and his exit velocity show that Seager continues to make good contact with the baseball, even when it results in an out. In baseball, those things tend to average out. Combine that with the higher walk rate and Seager is showing more patience and that should pay off as it did on Tuesday night. His numbers should be more in line with career averages in about a month, barring injury.

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