Corey Seager will undergo season-ending sports hernia surgery on Friday, Rangers GM Chris Young told reporters, via Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. The five-time All-Star was placed on the 10-day injured list last week with what the team initially announced as hip discomfort. Texas could move him to the 60-day IL in a procedural move to activate Jacob deGrom on Friday.
It’s the second sports hernia surgery of the year for Seager. He underwent the same procedure in January, albeit with an important distinction. Seager’s previous hernia was on his left groin; Grant writes that the procedure will address the right side. The injury is not expected to impact the shortstop’s readiness for spring training.
Seager suffered his previous hernia injury during last year’s postseason. He attempted to rehab without surgery but went under the knife a couple of months later when the initial treatment plan was unsuccessful. That set him back during spring training but did not require a season-opening injured list stint. He’ll hope for a similarly swift recovery this time around so as not to have much of an impact of his offseason.
It’s a sour end to another excellent season for Seager. He popped 30 homers with a .278/.353/.512 batting line over 533 plate appearances. He started the year slowly, likely in part because of his limited ramp-up after January’s surgery. He has been one of the best players in the league since the start of May, raking at a .290/.362/.569 clip with 28 of his home runs. By measure of wRC+, Seager has been one of the ten best qualified hitters since May 1.
While this was a step back from last year’s MVP runner-up showing, Seager’s first few seasons in Arlington couldn’t have gone much better. He has been an All-Star in all three years as a Ranger. He has reached 30 homers in each. Texas disappointed this season, but Seager was obviously the best player on last year’s World Series winner. He’ll make $32M next season before receiving $31M annual salaries for the final six years of his $325M free-agent contract.
Josh Smith has taken over as the primary shortstop in Seager’s absence. He’ll presumably get the majority of the playing time there in the final couple of weeks of the season. Smith was a rare bright spot in the Rangers lineup earlier in the year. He stepped in at third base when Josh Jung was out and was arguably the team’s second-best player behind Seager. Smith’s production has dropped off sharply in the second half, but he still carries an impressive .265/.350/.407 slash in 134 games overall.