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Corey Seager is going through a crisis unlike any he’s ever had to endure in the big leagues.
The two-time World Series MVP shortstop is hitless in his last seven games for the Texas Rangers. It’s part of a longer 0-for-27 span, also a career-worst, that includes 11 strikeouts.
“You’re obviously still working on things and you want to see some better results, but you’re not getting them,” Seager said after going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in a wild 6-5 comeback win over Arizona on Wednesday night.
While he has started 42 of the Rangers’ 43 games, the 32-year-old Seager said physically he feels “absolutely fine.” He has played 24 straight since his only game on April 16.
“It’s one of those things you’re going to find out out there,” Seager said. “That’s always been like my focus, right, you’re going to find it fluctuates. So right now, I’m going to keep going out there and try to figure it out.”
Corey Seager has never fought this long or to this degree before. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)
The Rangers had an off day Thursday, as his .179 batting average ranked No. 167 out of 174 qualified MLB hitters. Seager, in the fifth season of a $325 million, 10-year deal, has 28 hits and 22 walks, but 50 strikeouts account for 27.5% of his 182 plate appearances. He has seven home runs and 20 RBIs.
His last hit was an RBI single in the fourth inning at Yankee Stadium on May 6. Seager’s solo homer in the first inning put Texas ahead to stay in the 6-1 win over New York, but strikeouts in his final two at-bats started his hitless span. He is 6 for 61 (.098) with 23 K’s over his last 16 games.
This is the latest in any of his 12 seasons that Seager, a .285 career hitter in 4,500 at-bats over 1,173 games, has been under .200. He never finished a game below that mark in eight of those seasons, including three times when he went 1 for 5 (.200) in openers (2016, 2020 and 2024) before having at least three hits in the second game.
“Corey is still good to go,” first-year Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. “I like him in the lineup. So I’ll continue to put him there if his body feels good and his mind is right. And it is, so that part is good.”
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Schumaker acknowledged that a date has been chosen for Seager to sit out a game around one of the team’s off days. The manager did not say whether that would be Friday in Houston, or coincide with their only remaining scheduled day off this month, next Thursday between the road series against Colorado and the Los Angeles Angels.
Texas sat down first baseman Jake Burger for two games last weekend. He went 3 for 3 Tuesday night, then matched his career high with four RBIs Wednesday, a three-run homer and then a game-tying RBI single in the ninth inning.
Seager hit .194 after 10 games last year, which had been his latest sub-.200 mark, then went 14 for 30 (.467) his next eight games. He finished the season hitting .271 with 21 homers and 50 RBIs, even with an 0-for-25 span over six-plus games in June. He was limited to 102 total games due to hamstring problems and an appendectomy.
“Someone told me a long time ago … that when you’re in a funk, it just means you’re getting really, really hot,” Schumaker said. “There are some really big names right now who have had tough months and it’s OK to start the season. And that just means, in my opinion, he’s going to have a really good five months.”
Report from the Associated Press.
