ARLINGTON, Texas — Rangers second baseman Jurickson Profar could miss his second straight season because he needs right shoulder surgery, an operation he had tried to avoid through rest and rehabilitation.
Texas general manager Jon Daniels said Thursday that doctors recommended surgery in September, when Profar was told to stop playing for the third time since he aggravated a 2010 injury during spring training last year.
Profar, who turns 22 Friday, won’t be cleared for baseball activities until the summer.
There won’t be a timetable for his return until after surgery Monday. The procedure will be performed by team physician Dr. Keith Meister.
"I think part of his thought process in that was that there’s a chance if he had surgery back in the fall that he could miss most of this season," Daniels said. "I think he wanted to give himself every chance to come back. Unfortunately, it played out this way."
Once the team’s top prospect, Profar spent most of 2013 with the Rangers in a utility role, hitting .234 in 85 games.
Profar had started a throwing program while getting an MRI every three weeks. He was throwing at 105 feet, the same distance before his previous setback in September, before an MRI on Tuesday revealed the same strain to a shoulder muscle.
Daniels said doctors discovered that instability in the shoulder related to Profar’s older injury was likely causing the strains to recur. The surgery will repair the older injury and determine whether other work is needed.
"Obviously we all wish we maybe had seen that earlier or put two and two together," Daniels said. "It just wasn’t what any of them expected."
The Rangers weren’t counting on Profar as a regular because of the uncertainly surrounding his shoulder. Rougned Odour, who hit .259 with nine home runs and 48 RBIs as a rookie last season, is the likely starter at second base.
Daniels isn’t ready to change his view of a player he onto through trade discussions when the Rangers were contenders looking to add veterans from 2010-13.
Profar homered in his first big league at-bat in 2012, and the Rangers weren’t concerned about his .231 average in 94 career big league games because he had yet to get a shot as an everyday player.
"First off, we’ve got to get him healthy," Daniels said. "My expectation is if the doctor says the surgery went well and he will recover, that he will come back and be the same type of player and skill set that he was prior to the injury."
