Texas Rangers Know Plan Without Corey Seager

The Texas Rangers learned which players worked best in their lineup during Corey Seager's absence in April and May due to a hamstring injury.

© Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

ARLINGTON, Texas — When Texas Rangers shortstop Corey Seager injured his hamstring in April, manager Bruce Bochy wasn’t certain about the plan ahead.

The only upside of Seager being out for at least the next 10 days with an injured right thumb is that Bochy knows exactly what the Rangers will do in the All-Star’s absence.

Bochy started Ezequiel Duran at shortstop in Seager’s place in the 16-3 loss Saturday to the Los Angeles Dodgers, but kept him in the No. 8 spot in the batting order. To replace Seager in the second spot, he put in Travis Jankowski, who started in left field.

It’s an alignment that ultimately yielded good results for the Rangers in Seager’s absence in April and May.

“Really, it’s getting back to where were when Corey went down with the hamstring,” Bochy said.

When Seager was injured on April 11 against Kansas City, the Rangers moved Josh Smith into the starting lineup at shortstop and had him bat second. With an off-day between the Royals and the road series at the Houston Astros, Bochy opted to stick with Smith, as he wanted the rest of the top of his order to remain consistent.

Smith’s bat didn’t respond the way the Rangers hoped, so they started working Duran in for a start or two at shortstop, even though he had not played a Major League game at the position. Not only did Duran quickly prove to be a solid shortstop, his bat responded with every day playing time, something he wasn’t getting in an outfield platoon.

While Seager was out, Duran found himself. He slashed .320/.359/.560/.919 with six home runs, six doubles and 20 RBI in 26 games before Seager was activated on May 17. Even then, Seager started that game at DH and the Rangers kept Duran at shortstop to ease the veteran in.

“You don’t really want to be without (Seager), but this team did respond pretty well without him,” Bochy said.

Duran’s move to shortstop also helped out Jankowski, who only made the Opening Day roster because Leody Taveras was hurt to start the season.

Jankowski settled into a rotation role in left field that turned into a starting role. Before his hamstring injury, which put him on the injured list in early May, he had reached base safely via a hit or walk in 14 of his 17 starts at .305/.388/.424/.812.

“Having a guy like Travis, he does allow you to have that flexibility to build a lineup where he can give you speed at the top of the order, even though he’s a different type of hitter (than Seager),” Bochy said.

Since the All-Star break ended, Jankowski has been the primary left fielder and Duran has been the DH.

For the foreseeable future, it will be Duran at shortstop and Jankowski in left, with a little Robbie Grossman mixed in.

It’s the benefit of having been through it before.

“It’s not always just one player, it’s a team and that’s why you have nine guys, and these guys really showed a lot of resolve last time,” Bochy said.

The proof? The Rangers went 19-12 without Seager during his first IL stint.

The AL West-leading Rangers (58-41) and NL West-leading Dodgers (57-40) conclude their three-game series Sunday at 1:35 p.m. at Globe Life Field.

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You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.

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