HOUSTON -- - Corey Seager is out of the lineup for the Texas Rangers in the opener of a three-game series at Houston, some extra down time after a day off for team as the two-time World Series MVP shortstop battles his worst slump in the big leagues.
Ezequiel Duran is set to start at shortstop and bat second against the Astros on Friday night. Seager has been the No. 3 hitter most of the season.
Seager is hitless in his last seven games, part of a longer 0-for-27 slide that is a career-worst and includes 11 strikeouts.
While he has started 42 of the Rangers' 43 games, Seager has said he feels fine physically. If he doesn't come off the bench against the Astros, it will end a streak of 24 games played since the 32-year-old's only game off this season April 16.
Seager's .179 batting average ranked 163rd out of 171 qualified batters going into Friday's games. Seager, in the fifth season of a $325 million, 10-year deal, has 28 hits and 22 walks but 50 strikeouts account for 27.5% of his 182 plate appearances. He has seven home runs and 20 RBI.
This is the latest in any of his 12 seasons that Seager, a .285 career hitter in 4,500 at-bats over 1,173 games, has been below .200. He never finished a game under that mark in eight of those seasons.
First-year Rangers manager Skip Schumaker had suggested that keeping Seager out of the lineup would coincide with a day off for the team.
Seager was hitting .194 after 10 games last year, which had been his latest sub-.200 mark, then went 14 for 30 (.467) his next eight games.
