Rangers’ Fielder may need neck surgery; Choo also put on DL

The Rangers placed Fielder on the disabled list and are expected to use Jurickson Profar at first place.

Texas Rangers slugger Prince Fielder is facing the prospect of season-ending neck surgery after an MRI revealed a herniated disk just above an area that was repaired two years ago, Wednesday, July 20, 2016. The designated hitter had neck surgery in 2014 and missed most of that season.

The Texas Rangers’ South Korean outfielder Choo Shin-soo is headed to the disabled list (DL) for the third time this season.

Per Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Rangers’ back doctor, Drew Dossett, is recommending that Fielder undergo surgery to fix his neck issue.

“The way it has been described to me is that a fused vertebrae puts added stress above and below”, Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said Wednesday, via MLB.com.

Fielder, who was acquired with cash from the Detroit Tigers in a 2014 trade for Ian Kinsler, has run into some very bad injury luck in the past few years.

For a player who was praised for such an ability to stay healthy (Fielder played in at least 157 games every year from 2006-2013), Prince’s neck injury has made it impossible to stay on the field. He’s four for his last 27 at-bats with one homer and three RBIs.

Shoo seems to be fighting some lower back inflammation, according to team officials; however, the organization expects him to be back to full health when his 15-day stint ends.

The 32-year-old Fielder is hitting a paltry.212/.292/.334 with eight home runs in 89 games this season.

Texas recalled infielder Hanser Alberto and outfielder Delino DeShields from Triple-A Round Rock.