ARLINGTON — Texas Rangers President of Baseball Operations Chris Young said Tuesday during the team’s end-of-year debrief that, for the large majority of the club’s players, “this is now a training offseason versus a rehab offseason.”
Some rest for those in between the two won’t hurt, though. Young provided updates on four Rangers hitters — Adolis García, Evan Carter, Josh Jung and Corey Seager — who finished the season either on the injured list or sidelined with bumps and bruises.
OF Adolis García: The 31-year-old exited Saturday’s game against the Los Angeles Angels with a sore left knee and did not play in Sunday’s season finale. Young said Tuesday that García — who missed time at the end of the 2023 regular season with a right knee injury — will undergo an MRI, though the club is optimistic that he won’t need anything more than rest this offseason.
“We’re not overly concerned at this point,” Young said. “We’re optimistic he’ll be fine. Obviously the results of the MRI could change that, but right now, I think the prognosis is we’re relatively optimistic on it.”
OF Evan Carter: Carter played in just 45 games this season and missed the final four months with a nagging back injury that impacted the 22-year-old’s ability to twist and rotate. Carter, a rookie, made several comeback attempts during the season but was eventually shut down in early August.
Young said the Rangers are optimistic that he’ll make a full recovery and avoid further back issues. Carter slashed just .188/.272/.361 this season and tried to play through his back pain in May before his final game on May 26.
“He’s made real progress,” Young said. “I think the thing with Evan, in the season, is that we had a four-to-six-week timeline that we thought would be enough time for him to recover. In the end, it just needed a more significant period of rest and the timing became more of an 8-to-12-week period ... he’s doing wonderfully, he’s been here, he’s been rehabbing, he’s feeling very good.”
3B Josh Jung: Jung’s nightmare year concluded when the Rangers placed him on the injured list in the season’s final week after his surgically repaired right wrist continued to irritate him. The 26-year-old missed 102 games after his wrist was fractured by a Phil Maton pitch in the fourth game of the season against the Tampa Bay Rays. He returned on July 30 against the St. Louis Cardinals and played 46 games total before the Rangers shut him down due to continued inflammation and soreness in his hand/wrist area.
Jung visited Arizona-based hand specialist Dr. Don Sheridan — who performed his operation in April— last week and was cleared of any structural damage. The Rangers believe that a restful offseason will alleviate the issue.
“A good offseason for Josh is going to be really important,” Young said. “I think we can let this thing calm down right now ... the hope is that he, with some rest, some extended rest, and then strengthening this winter and not having to rush, he’ll be ready to go by spring training.”
SS Corey Seager: Seager underwent season-ending surgery to repair a hernia on the right side of his groin in September and was limited to 123 games. The 30-year-old missed nearly all of spring training this past season due to a similar surgery that he underwent in January, but the Rangers believe that he’ll have a healthy runway into 2025.
“Corey is doing great,” Young said. “He’s doing wonderfully, and we expect him fully recovered and ready for spring training.”
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