The Rangers were dealt a major injury blow today when DH was hit by a pitch in this evenings lo s to the White Sox. Pederson initially stayed in the game but was later lifted for a pinch-hitter. Manager Bruce Bochy revealed to reporters (including ) that Pederson suffered a fracture in his right hand when he was struck by the pitch. Pederson told reporters, , that he expects a recovery timeline of six weeks for the injury. Its a blow to a Rangers club that has already struggled to stay healthy this year. Pederson will now join and on the shelf from the clubs lineup, in addition to injuries suffered by reliever and starters , , and . Those injuries have contributed to Texass struggles this year, as theyve posted a lackluster 25-28 record thats left them three games out of a Wild Card spot and five games out of the AL West. With covering for Seager at shortstop and holding down center field in place of Carter, the Rangers will likely be forced to get creative with replacing Pederson. One option could be first baseman , who failed to record a hit in a five-game cup of coffee earlier this year but sports a .301/.369/.558 slash line Myles Powell Jersey in Triple-A this year. Another could be outfielder , who has a 104 wRC+ in 45 trips to the plate at the big league level and is the clubs only left-handed hitter already on the 40-man roster at Triple-A. Harris could be a particularly attractive option if the Rangers would like to continuing starting backup catcher at DH against left-handed pitchers, a role which the club is already carrying third catcher in order to accommodate on a more regular basis. Turning back to Pederson, it must be acknowledged that for however much losing his offensive prowe s from the lineup may sting on paper he hasnt delivered much production in his first season with the organization. Signed to a two-year, $37MM guarantee over the winter, Pederson has hit a paltry .132/.266/.240 (51 wRC+) in 144 plate appearances to this point in the season. Thats hardly production a club will mi s from their lineup, but its unfortunate timing nonethele s giving that Pederson had just begun to look more like his normal self at the plate: hes hitting .220/.429/.444 with four extra-base hits and an eye-popping 26.5% walk rate over his last 16 games. The Rangers can only hope that hell be able to pick back up right where he left off when he returns to action later this summer. A six week timetable would leave him poised to return in early July, shortly before the All-Star break. Rough as his start to the 2025 campaign was, it goes without saying that Pederson can be a dynamic addition to virtually any lineup when healthy; while he almost exclusively plays against right-handed pitching, the slugger slashed an excellent .262/.365/.485 with a wRC+ of 135 and 61 homers in 387 games over his last three seasons. Thats the 16th-best wRC+ among all hitters with at least 1000 plate appearances in that span, sandwiched between and on the leaderboard. If Pederson can offer that sort of production to the Rangers in the second half, it should be easy for fans to forget his first-half struggles and injury woes so long as Texas hasnt already fallen out of the playoff conversation before he returns. Jacob Evans III Jersey