Texas Rangers shortstop Corey Seager has been diagnosed with appendicitis after experiencing abdominal pain during a game.
Chris Young, the team's president of baseball operations, said Thursday that Seager was having an appendectomy in Texas after the team had traveled to California for the start of a series against the Athletics on Friday night. Young said it was too early to know how much time the two-time World Series MVP will miss.
“Corey did not want to rule out the season. In fact, he’s been researching athletes who’ve come back from this quickly,” Young said. “The most important thing is to make sure that Corey’s health is right.”
Young said the timetable could be two or three weeks, but that it was equally possible that Seager could miss the rest of the season, the fourth of his $325 million, 10-year contract.
It is the latest injury setback for the Rangers, who with 27 games left are 4 1/2 games back of Seattle for the American League’s last wild-card spot. The Mariners and Kansas City, which was between the AL West rivals in those standings, both hold tiebreakers over Texas.
Second baseman Marcus Semien, in the fourth season of a $175 million, seven-year contract, went on the injured list for only the second time in his career Saturday because of a broken bone and sprained ligament after fouling a ball off the top of his left foot. Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi, 11-3 with a career-best 1.73 ERA but short of the innings needed to qualify as the MLB leader, went on the IL this week because of a rotator cuff strain.
Seager will be placed on the 10-day IL and veteran utility player Dylan Moore, who had just been signed to a minor league contract after being released by Seattle, will be called up. Center fielder Evan Carter (broken right wrist) will be be transferred to the 60-day IL to make room on the 40-man roster.
“Obviously Corey, he’s extremely impactful for our team, and at this point in the season, with everything we’ve experienced thus far, that’s a tough blow,” Young said. “We’ve obviously had a lot of tough blows the last couple of weeks here. ... The team is still in a playoff race and our goal is to continue to put our best foot forward and continue to fight and see where it goes.”
It was initially thought that Seager came out of their 20-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday night because of the lopsided score. The Rangers were up 11-1, and he had hit his 21st homer and scored three times before manager Bruce Bochy replaced Seager in the field in the top of the fifth inning.
“So did I. We kind of learned about it simultaneously,” Young said. “Boch was taking him out anyway but it was the timing kind of lined up.”
Young said Seager had experienced some pain before the game, but nothing that concerned the team or the shortstop. But that pain increased while playing, and he was diagnosed with appendicitis when he was evaluated after coming out of the game.
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Stephen Hawkins, The Associated Press
