World Series MVP Corey Seager had surgery Tuesday for a left sports hernia repair, and the Texas Rangers' All-Star shortstop will miss most of spring training.
General manager Chris Young said the operation was performed by Dr. Venkata Evani in Arizona, where the team holds spring training. Young, who described his level of concern as "very low," said Seager will remain in Arizona to begin his rehabilitation and the Rangers are hopeful he will be ready by opening day.
"I'm not going to commit to a hard timeline," Young said. "The hope is that by the end of spring, he'll have resumed baseball activity and will be pretty close to full speed at that point."
Young said the hernia issue came up during the postseason, when Seager was managing it with minor treatment in the trainer's room, though it didn't impact his play as the Rangers won their first World Series title. The original hope was that the issue would subside after extended rest during the offseason.
"It was manageable. The thought was, may continue to be manageable, but there is the chance that it continues to get worse," Young said. "The fact that he's still feeling it at this point, became pretty clear that this may be difficult to manage and at some point would likely need to be repaired."
Seager hit .318 with six homers, 12 RBI and 15 walks in 17 postseason games last year. He homered three times in the World Series against Arizona, including a tying drive in the ninth inning of the opener.
In the regular season, the second of his $325 million, 10-year contract with Texas, the 29-year-old Seager batted .327 with 33 homers and 96 RBI in 119 games. His batting average ranked second in the American League, and he led the AL with 42 doubles.
The shortstop missed 40 games because of two stints on the injured list last year. He was out 31 games after straining his left hamstring two weeks into the season, and missed nine games with a sprained right thumb before returning Aug. 2 with a homer in his first at-bat back in the lineup.
"Nothing amazes me with him and his ability to roll out of bed and hit," Young said. "He's such an important player to our team and our franchise. We want to make sure we get this right, and when Corey is ready to be back out there, he will be back out there."
Texas opens the regular season at home March 28 against the Chicago Cubs.