Corey Seager’s Cold Spell Is Freezing the Rangers’ Lineup — How a .143 Stretch Has Knocked the Offense Off‑Course

ARLINGTON, Texas — When Corey Seager trudged back to the dugout after a ninth‑inning ground‑out on Thursday night, the Globe Life Field crowd responded with an uneasy murmur that sounded half‑way between encouragement and alarm. In a 4‑1 defeat that completed a sweep at the hands of the Kansas City Royals, the All‑Star shortstop finished 0‑for‑4 — his 11th hitless game in 15 June starts — and his batting average over the 18 contests since returning from his second hamstring stint on May 28 slipped to an icy .143. Add a .175 slugging percentage and zero homers in that window, and you have, by every statistical measure, the roughest three‑week patch of Seager’s nine‑year career.

Seager’s current 18‑game skid is unprecedented for a hitter who entered 2025 with a lifetime .290 average and a reputation for punishing mistakes in the zone. According to research compiled by The Dallas Morning News, no previous stretch of that length had ever dragged his average below .165 or his OPS under .550. Today those figures sit at .143 and .479, respectively, despite an elevated walk rate that has, to some extent, papered over the collapse of his power stroke.

What worries the Rangers most is how directly Seager’s production correlates with their win column. Since he signed his 10‑year, $325 million mega‑deal before the 2022 season, Texas owns a sparkling 165‑86 record when Seager records at least one hit, but an anemic 107‑202 mark when he doesn’t. This year the split is similarly stark: 16‑8 with a Seager knock, 10‑21 without. “We don’t count on just one player,” manager Bruce Bochy insisted, “but he’s a key piece — that’s fair to say. Our ceiling depends on Corey playing like Corey.”

Two separate hamstring strains cost Seager nearly five weeks in the season’s first two months. During his second rehab swing, he tried an exaggerated open stance designed to free his hips; it looked ungainly and, by his own admission, “ran its course” almost immediately. Back in the big‑league box, Seager has experimented with hand position, timing mechanics, and bat path, yet the same pattern repeats: late on velocity, rolling over breakers, and living on the wrong end of the launch‑angle spectrum.

Privately, club insiders speak of “hips out of sync,” a telltale sign of a hitter’s kinetic chain mis‑firing. Seager and personal hitting instructor Shawn Wooten have logged extra pre‑game reps nearly every afternoon, but the moment he steps into game speed, he falls into what the 31‑year‑old characterized Thursday as “bad habits I haven’t been able to break.” He declined to specify the adjustment he and Wooten are chasing — secrecy is the currency of modern hitting labs — yet allowed that his timing “feels off by a click” on every swing.

While Seager searches, the offense has sagged around him. Texas ranks 11th in the American League in runs per game (4.02) since May 28, a far cry from the 5.2 clip they managed when Seager and breakout outfielder Wyatt Langford were both healthy last season. Their collective OPS with runners in scoring position has tumbled below .640 in June, worst in the AL. Opposing staffs are capitalizing: pitch around slugger Adolis García, challenge Seager, and let the bottom third fend for itself.

In that respect Thursday’s loss felt painfully formulaic. After García and rookie Alejandro Osuna opened the fifth with walks, the 7‑8‑9 trio of Jake Burger, Josh Jung, and Jonah Heim stranded them. An inning later, Seager popped up with a man aboard. In the eighth, he grounded out to short with a runner on first, extending the team’s 0‑for‑5 line in scoring chances. “That pissed me off,” Burger admitted of his own missed opportunity. “Momentum’s contagious — for good or bad.”

Seager’s slump feels magnified because of the standard he set early in his Rangers tenure. His 2023 run — a .327 average and .623 slugging clip that helped carry Texas to a title — still glitters in local memory. But sluggers, even elite ones, are not immune to slumps. Mike Trout endured a .143 stretch over 19 games in 2021, Mookie Betts hit .157 across 20 in 2022, and Freddie Freeman fell to .149 for 17 games in 2024. Each eventually corrected; they all share Seager’s track record of advanced zone management and gap‑to‑gap power. The concern is not whether he will bounce back but how soon — and whether Texas can stay afloat in the meantime.

Health First: Multiple hamstring tweaks suggest compensatory mechanics could be sapping Seager’s bat speed. A week of managed workloads — think DH days, scheduled rests, and low‑intensity baserunning — might allow his lower half to reset without another IL trip.

Refined Approach: Scouting reports show pitchers pounding the outer third with cutters and sweepers. Seager’s career heatmaps reveal he does damage when he lets those pitches travel; hunting the opposite‑field gap may jump‑start his lagging slug.

Lineup Protection: Langford has quietly posted a .385 OBP since June 1. Slotting the rookie second and dropping Seager to the three‑hole could force opponents to pitch to Seager rather than nibbling.

Texas opens a six‑game, two‑city trip in Milwaukee on Friday, facing a Brewers rotation that ranks top‑five in swing‑and‑miss rate. Seager is 8‑for‑25 (.320) lifetime at American Family Field, including a pair of homers in the 2023 postseason. A change of scenery, and perhaps a retractable roof that neutralizes June’s oppressive Texas humidity, might be the jolt he needs.

Still, the math is daunting. To restore his season batting average to its career norm (.290), Seager would need roughly a .315 clip over his next 300 at‑bats — a tall but not impossible order. More realistically, the Rangers would take a hot fortnight, a few clutch doubles, and a home‑run trot that reminds everyone of last October.