It’s just a matter of where or when. 

Seager appears bound for a minor league rehab assignment this week after he completed another round of live batting practice and simulated defensive drills before Sunday’s game vs. the Seattle Mariners at Globe Life Field as he works his way back from lower back inflammation. He said that Sunday’s workout included “definitely more volume and definitely more intensity” than Friday’s workout, and before Monday’s series finale, he’ll do one more round of live batting practice against a left-handed pitcher.

The 32-year-old will likely begin a minor league rehab assignment after that, so long as he recovers fine, though neither he nor Rangers manager Skip Schumaker are yet certain where or when it’d start. Triple-A Round Rock and Double-A Frisco will both play home series this week and Seager could theoretically join either as soon as Tuesday’s games. Seager has completed only one minor league rehab assignment in the last three seasons but believes a short one is in order this time around. 

“You obviously don’t want to be in a position to do them,” Seager said, “but it’s probably been long enough for me to at least go and play a couple innings just to check a box. Get out there, less stress, hopefully you can slide, move around, twitch a couple of times on defense, all those small little things that you can’t kind of recreate out here.”

That could allow Seager to return from the injured list for this week’s series against the Tampa Bay Rays or, more conservatively, for next weekend’s series against the Houston Astros. Seager has been sidelined for this entire month, has only started nine games in the last two and has officially missed more than half of the team’s games this season. He’ll likely return only days before the Aug. 3 trade deadline, at which point the Rangers, dependent on how the next week goes, may look different than they did when he last played. 

“Honestly,” Seager said when asked about the next week’s stakes and whether he’s considered them, “just getting back is kind of the priority.”