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Corey Seager is going through a crisis like none he has ever had to endure in the big leagues.
The two-time World Series MVP shortstop is hitless in his last seven games with the Texas Rangers. That’s part of a longer 0-for-27 stretch, also the worst of his career, that included 11 strikeouts.
“Obviously you’re still working on things and you’d like to see better results, but you’re not getting them,” Seager said after going 0 for 4 with two strikeouts in a wild 6-5 comeback victory over Arizona on Wednesday night.
Although he has started 42 of the Rangers’ 43 games, Seager, 32, said he physically feels “completely fine.” He has played 24 in a row since his only game on April 16.
“It’s one of those things you’re going to figure out right there,” Seager said. “It’s always been my approach, right, you’re going to figure it out by swinging. So right now, I want to keep going out there and trying to figure it out.”
Corey Seager has never struggled this much or to this point before. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)
The Rangers had a day off Thursday, when their .179 batting average ranked 167th among 174 qualified MLB hitters. Seager, in the fifth season of a 10-year, $325 million contract, has 28 hits and 22 walks, but 50 strikeouts represent 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 home run in the first inning put Texas ahead to stay in that 6-1 victory over New York, but strikeouts in his final two at-bats began his hitless stretch. He is 6-for-61 (.098) with 23 K in his last 16 games.
This is the last time in any of his 12 seasons that Seager, a career .285 hitter in 4,500 at-bats in 1,173 games, has been below .200. He never finished a game below that mark in eight of those seasons, including three times in which he went 1 for 5 (.200) in the first games (2016, 2020 and 2024) before having at least three hits in the second game.
“Corey still feels good,” first-year Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. “I like him in the lineup. So I’m going to continue to put him in there if his body feels good and his mind feels good. And it is, so that part is good.”
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Schumaker acknowledged that there is a date chosen for Seager to miss a game on one of the team’s off days. The manager did not say whether that would be Friday in Houston, or would coincide with the only remaining off day scheduled this month, next Thursday between road series against Colorado and the Los Angeles Angels.
Texas sat first baseman Jake Burger for two games last weekend. He went 3 for 3 on Tuesday night, then tied a career-high with four RBIs on Wednesday, a three-run homer and then a tying RBI single in the ninth inning.
Seager was hitting .194 after 10 games last year, which had been his last mark below .200, then went 14-for-30 (.467) in his next eight games. He finished the season hitting .271 with 21 home runs and 50 RBIs, including an 0-for-25 stretch in 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 depressed, it just means you’re going to get very, very hot,” Schumaker said. “There are some really big names right now that have had tough months, and that’s good to start the season. And that just means, in my opinion, it’s going to be a really good five months.”
Information from The Associated Press.
