The Texas Rangers placed shortstop Corey Seager on the seven-day concussion injured list as symptoms from his collision last week at Kansas City lingered.
ARLINGTON — Throughout the rest of Thursday’s game at Kansas City, after Corey Seager and Royals catcher Carter Jensen crashed together in the first inning, Texas Rangers personnel checked frequently with the shortstop to make sure he was OK.
Seager assured them he was fine to play. He homered in his next at-bat and played all nine innings. After the game, though, he wasn’t feeling so hot. He didn’t improve much, if at all, over the weekend at Boston, and on Monday, the Rangers still weren’t comfortable playing him.
So, he landed on the seven-day concussion IL, retroactive to Friday.
Seager has had stretches where he feels fine, manager Skip Schumacher said, followed in short order by stretches where his mind feels foggy and he has no business facing a major-league pitcher.
“If you have a concussion, you feel like there’s a foggy, light-headed feeling,” Schumaker said. “You feel good, then you don’t feel good. It’s this back-and-forth. When you feel 100 percent is the tricky part.”
The Rangers reinstated Josh Smith from the injured list to replace Seager. The Rangers hope Seager can be ready the first day he is eligible this Friday, but he won’t return until he is symptom-free.
Schumaker said that he dealt with a concussion during his playing career and that he wasn’t sure when he was back to full strength. There also isn’t a tried-and-true rehab progression for a concussion, so he wasn’t willing to predict when Seager would return.
But the Rangers were in contact with Seager each inning after the collision, Schumaker said. Seager continued to say he was fine, and the Rangers didn’t see anything alarming.
“It didn’t cross our mind or his because he was still playing and he had a home run,” Schumaker said. “You talk to the player and you ask him how he’s feeling, and our medical department talks through different situations. All the stuff you’re able to talk through.”
Seager has played in only 47 of the Rangers’ 71 games after also missing time with a back injury last month. He has also missed time the past two seasons because of leg issues, a sports hernia and an appendectomy.
The Rangers again will consider how to manage Seager’s playing time, potentially giving him more games at designated hitter. Schumaker, though, said that he wasn’t to take advantage of Seager’s solid defense at shortstop.
In the meantime, Smith will play all over the field after recovering from viral meningitis, which was revealed during the same May series in Houston as Seager’s back woes. Smith collected seven hits and two homers over 28 at-bats on his rehab assignment. He played first base twice.
Smith said he was more concerned about his wrist, which had started to bark while he was on the IL for a strained right glute. The extra IL time caused by the illness allowed both to heal.
“The thing I’ve been worried about most was my wrist, but that’s been pretty good,” he said. “I think the strength and stamina is, in my opinion, something you can manage in baseball. I definitely have to give full effort. I think I was more worried about my wrist, and that’s what I was happy about.”
Smith did not start Monday in the opener of a three-game series against the Twins and might not start Tuesday against left-hander Zebby Matthews. The teams are off Wednesday to accommodate the World Cup crowd at AT&T Stadium before finishing the series with a Thursday matinee.
Seager could be ready to go Friday, but there are no guarantees as he deals with a concussion.
“They’re so tricky,” Schumaker said.
Jeff Wilson, jwilson@alldlls.com
