{"id":343616,"date":"2026-06-20T01:34:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T01:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/343616\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T01:34:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T01:34:07","slug":"texas-rangers-send-2b-josh-smith-to-minors-just-days-after-his-return-from-illness-and-injuries-associated-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/343616\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Rangers send 2B Josh Smith to minors just days after his return from illness and injuries | Associated Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) \u2014 The Texas Rangers optioned second baseman Josh Smith to Triple-A Round Rock on Friday, just days after his return to the majors from missing 37 games because of injuries and a bout with viral meningitis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Texas brought up outfielder Jarred Kelenic, the sixth overall pick by the New York Mets in the 2018 draft. The left-hander had hit .340 (17 of 50) with three homers, 11 RBIs, 12 runs and eight walks in 13 games for Round Rock since signing a minor league deal with the Rangers on June 1. He played 19 games earlier this season for the Chicago White Sox.<\/p>\n

Smith, who went into the season expected to be the everyday second baseman for the Rangers after Marcus Semien was traded<\/a>, hit .218 with no homers and six RBIs in 34 games. He was 2 for 9 in three games since being activated from the injured list Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cProbably one of the toughest, if not the toughest send-down I\u2019ve had in my career,\u201d manager Skip Schumaker said. “That was not easy, and the message was that we need to get him going. … The kid\u2019s had a rough start to the year just because of started out slow, but then the sickness and got injured and you really feel for him.”<\/p>\n

Smith had been activated this week when shortstop Corey Seager was placed on the seven-day concussion list<\/a>. Since Seager’s move was retroactive, the two-time World Series MVP was eligible to return as early as Friday, but Schumaker said he wouldn’t be activated for the opener of their three-game series against San Diego.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was offsite doing some treatment,\u201d Schumaker said before the game. \u201cObviously not in the lineup, but a really encouraging today today, so far.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith was already on the 10-day IL with a glute strain while also dealing with left wrist inflammation when he was hospitalized about a month ago<\/a> with viral meningitis after feeling ill. He rejoined the team in late May.<\/p>\n

The Rangers went into the series against San Diego after being swept in a three-game series at home by Minnesota, which never trailed while outscoring them 25-7. Texas was hitting .239 as a team and ranked 28th in the majors with their 292 runs (3.9 per game).<\/p>\n

Schumaker said he hoped the moves could provide a spark for the big league lineup, and also give the 28-year-old Smith the opportunity to recover from a tough start.<\/p>\n

Smith has played all four infield positions and the outfield for the Rangers. He was the AL Silver Slugger winner as a utility player just two seasons ago.<\/p>\n

To make room on the 40-man roster for Kelenic, the Rangers transferred Michael Helman from the 60-day IL. Helman went on the 10-day list Sunday because of a broken right finger.<\/p>\n

AP MLB: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/mlb<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) \u2014 The Texas Rangers optioned second baseman Josh Smith to Triple-A Round Rock on Friday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343617,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151,1816,39951,38990,122579,154],"class_list":["post-343616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arlington","tag-arlington","tag-arlington-headlines","tag-arlington-news","tag-baseball","tag-minor-league-baseball","tag-mlb-baseball","tag-rangers-mlb-josh-smith-kelenic","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}