ARLINGTON – The Rangers are 75 games in and there have been just about as many theories for why the offense has been so defective, the club is awaiting a recall notice.
Maybe, though, it’s not that complex.
May we suggest: The offense won’t go with any gusto or consistency until Corey Seager gets going. The Rangers are only going to be as good as their best player. And the hard truth after a 4-1 sweep-clinching loss to Kansas City Thursday is their best player is mired in the worst stretch of his career.
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The “worst” is not hyperbole. It’s merely stating facts. By going 0 for 4 on Thursday, Seager’s batting average for the 18 games he’s played since May 28 when he returned from his second hamstring-related stint on the injured list is .143. It’s the worst for any 18-game stretch of his career.
Same for his .175 slugging percentage in that stretch. Only an abnormally-high walk rate prevents him from having the worst slash line for that long a stretch in his career. Still, it’s plenty bad at .479. The streak included the worst o-fer of his career. It also does not include a homer, putting him nearly two-thirds of the way to the longest homerless stretch of his career (30 games).
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“I just haven’t been good,” Seager said Thursday after his second straight hitless game against the Royals. “It’s just been bad habits that I haven’t been able to break. I’m just in bad spots.”
Seager said he knows what’s wrong, but has struggled to be able to make the adjustment. He’s also not about to explain what’s wrong, because he doesn’t spill secrets. And he does most of his work in private anyway with private hitting instructor Shawn Wooten.
Talk to some around the Rangers and you get some vague explanation about Seager’s hips being out of position. It’s not like he’s not working on the problem. Before he returned from the IL, he tried out an exaggerated open stance at the plate in which it looked like his front leg was actually behind his back leg. It looked awkward. It was meant to be a temporary fix. He’s since discarded it, saying it “ran its course.” He was at Globe Life Field earlier than most on Thursday to get in some extra work on the swing.
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It resulted in a hard ground ball out to end the first, a fly ball to left in the fourth, a pop up with a man on first and one out in the sixth and a grounder to short to start the ninth inning. It was his 11th hitless game in 15 June starts. The Rangers are 4-7 in those games. There is a reason we cite the record. In the case of Seager, it seems more than just coincidental.
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Consider this: When Seager gets a hit in a game, the Rangers are 16-8 this year. The problem with that: That’s less than a third of the Rangers’ games. He’s either not been available or not effective. The trend doesn’t merely apply to this year only either. Since Seager signed a 10-year, $325 million deal with the Rangers in the winter of 2021, the club is 165-86 when he gets a hit; 107-202 when he doesn’t. It makes sense. Seager has the ability to change a game or a series. The Rangers go as he goes.
“I mean, we don’t count on just one player, but yeah, he’s a key player in our success,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “That’s fair to say. I think for us to get to where we want to go, we need all our guys to do their thing, not just Corey.
“How many times have you heard me say: You need your guys to have their normal years and nothing behind that?’ So, yes, for us to get where we want to go, he’s part of that.”
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To do that means Seager would have to get exceptionally hot for the remainder of the season. Seager came into the season as a .290 career hitter and .512 slugger. If he stays healthy, he’s got about 300 more at-bats. To get to his career average would require hitting about .315 and slug about .575. The good news: He’s capable of it. In 2023, he hit .327 with a .623 slugging percentage for the season.
Seager isn’t the only one who has to have a second-half surge to meet his career marks. In fact, it’s probably easier to list the guys who are on pace for career norms. It’s basically Josh Smith and Wyatt Langford. Nobody else who entered the season with at least 500 career at-bats is within 40 points of their career norms.
After Thursday’s loss, during which the Rangers were no-hit for 5 ⅓ innings and went 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position, Bochy again said some players are “searching.” Asked who in particular was currently “searching,” the manager declined to name names. On the just-completed homestand, during which the Rangers went 3-3, Jake Burger (4 for 23), Jonah Heim (1 for 15) and Josh Jung (1 for 15) certainly seemed to fit those that have gone missing.
Perhaps not coincidentally then, the Rangers best chance for a big inning against Michael Wacha came in the fifth when Adolis García and Alejandro Osuna drew consecutive walks to start bringing up Burger, Jung and Heim in succession, the No. 7-9 hitters. They did not manage to advance either runner. Burger popped up a slider.
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“That pissed me off,” Burger said of his pop up to short while attempting to drive a ball to right. “I was a little early and beneath it. I hate pop ups as much as the next guy. I went up there wanting to hit the ball to right at the very least. It pissed me off because it could have set [Jung] up for something good and maybe that carries over to other guys.”
Meanwhile, Seager popped up with a man on first in the sixth and grounded out with a runner on to end the eighth. It extended his career-worst long slump, which led to questions about how it has impacted the team.
“Well,” he said, “it sounds like I need to start getting more.”
It certainly does.
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