Corey Seager still optimistic he can return in time for Rangers’ playoff race

ARLINGTON — Corey Seager has done his own research.

Not that it’s produced any answers.

Seager’s return from a laparoscopic appendectomy remains to be determined. He’s optimistic he will return before the season is out, though that may depend as much on where the Rangers stand in the playoff race once he’s ready.

Texas Rangers pitcher Jon Gray (22) reacts after a leaping catch by outfielder Michael...

Rangers

“I am pleased with where I am,” Seager said Friday in the Rangers’ clubhouse, eight days into his recovery. “I didn’t know where I would be, but I am pleased at the moment. It could definitely be worse.”

Oh, it could have been. Seager said he first started feeling abdominal pain overnight following an Aug. 25 game against the Los Angeles Angels, but he played the next two days as the pain continued to worsen.

He exited a 20-3 win over the Angels on Aug. 27 early. He still isn’t sure whether Bruce Bochy pulled him because the Rangers had a big lead or because his pain was noticeable, but he called the confluence of events “fortunate.” It became clear after the game that something was more than just discomfort and he didn’t travel with the Rangers, then was diagnosed with a significantly inflamed appendix the next day and underwent surgery that afternoon. Seager said doctors told him he was within 48 hours of his appendix rupturing, which would have been a far more serious situation.

While he wasn’t with the team and was recovering from his third surgery in less than two years, it gave Seager plenty of time to research how fast he could return. Matt Holliday, he noted, returned in just 10 days after the procedure. Seager will not duplicate that lightning-fast return.

Mostly, though, what Seager found was a wide range of answers, none of which gave him a clear plan of attack. Seager will have spent the required 10 days on the IL to make him eligible for activation on Sunday, but he’s far enough out that he can’t predict a return.”

“All I found out is that it can vary a ton, unfortunately,” Seager said. “I spoke to some guys. There have been some basketball guys come back in three weeks. But they aren’t rotating as much, so I don’t know if that changes things, based on where the incisions are and stuff.

“I just don’t know. It felt like I got very opposite ends of the spectrum. It was either really fast or it wasn’t.”

Seager, who declined to disclose which other players he’d spoken to about hernia recovery, expected to follow up with team doctors after speaking with reporters, but is still very much in the beginning stages of recovery. He’s walking, but not yet running. Too much activity with still-fresh incisions can lead to hernias in the area, Seager said. The word “hernia” was enough to freak Seager out. He’s had “sports hernia” surgery following each of the last two seasons. And while sports hernias are not actually hernias (they are groin injuries), Seager has had enough of hernia talk for a while.

Is he optimistic about playing again this year?

“I have to think it’s possible,” said Seager, who has been the Rangers’ most productive hitter. “If I don’t think that way, it won’t be. So, that’s my only option.”

Texas Rangers catch a break with upcoming Astros pitching in pivotal series