Corey Seager is without a hit in his last seven games and is mired in a 0-for-27 stretch — a career-long skid that has produced 11 strikeouts, the report says.
Seager has started 42 of the Rangers’ 43 games and has appeared in 24 straight since his only day off on April 16. He told reporters he feels physically fine and stressed that he expects to work through the slump at the plate, per the report.
The report says Seager’s batting average stood at .179, ranking 167th among 174 qualified hitters, and that he is in the fifth season of a 10-year, $325 million contract. The shortstop has 28 hits, 22 walks and 50 strikeouts, which account for 27.5% of his 182 plate appearances, along with seven home runs and 20 RBI. His last recorded hit was an RBI single in the fourth inning at Yankee Stadium on May 6; a solo homer earlier that day put Texas ahead in a 6-1 win, and two strikeouts in his final two at-bats began the hitless run. Over his last 16 games he is 6 for 61 with 23 strikeouts, the report says.
The report adds career perspective: Seager is a .285 hitter in 4,500 at-bats across 1,173 games, and this marks the latest point in any of his 12 seasons that he has been below .200. He never finished under .200 in eight of those seasons. The report also notes a past season in which he finished at .271 with 21 homers and 50 RBI despite enduring an 0-for-25 stretch, and that he was limited to 102 games that year by hamstring issues and an appendectomy.
First-year Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said Seager still feels good to play and that he plans to keep him in the lineup while both his body and mind are right. Schumaker acknowledged there is a date chosen for Seager to sit out around one of the team’s off days but would not commit to whether that would be Friday at Houston or the remaining off day next Thursday between road series at Colorado and against the Los Angeles Angels, per the report.
Schumaker suggested that a slow start can precede a strong run, saying in effect that slumps can flip into hot stretches and expressing confidence that Seager could have a productive remainder of the season, the report says.
