ARLINGTON, Texas — Josh Hamilton will have another surgery on his left knee and not play a game this season for the Texas Rangers.
The 2010 AL MVP and five-time All-Star slugger has already had surgery twice on his left knee the last nine months, along with cortisone shots and even a stem cell and platelet-rich plasma injection during spring training. He played in one game for Double-A Frisco on April 30 before being recalled from his rehab assignment.
Hamilton, on the disabled list all season, got another opinion from Dr. Walt Lowe in Houston. The knee specialist is scheduled to perform another surgery June 8.
General manager Jon Daniels said Monday that the season-ending surgery will be different than the previous procedures.
“Physically, he can’t play,” Daniels said. “He’s frustrated.”
The news about Hamilton came on the same day the Rangers put outfielders Shin-Soo Choo (strained left hamstring) and Drew Stubbs (sprained left little toe) on the 15-day disabled list. Choo was back on the disabled list after playing only one game Friday in his return from a previous DL stint, while Stubbs got hurt running the bases Sunday.
Choo had been out since April 9 because of a strained right calf when he was activated before a game Friday at Houston. He walked twice in his only at-bats before leaving the game with the hamstring issue. He didn’t play the rest of the series, so the DL move was retroactive to Saturday.
Texas called up outfielder Jared Hoying from Triple-A Round Rock, and he was in the lineup Monday night against the Los Angeles Angels to make his major league debut. The Rangers also recalled infielder Joey Gallo, who started 15 games in the outfield for them last season, from Round Rock.
Hamilton, who turned 35 on Saturday, is signed through next season. Daniels said Hamilton is fully committed to coming back in 2017.
Daniels said the loss of Hamilton for the season was “not totally unexpected.”
Hamilton had surgery twice on the knee last year. The first was in September, and then he had another operation in October after returning for the end of the regular season and the playoffs.
While he felt better after a cortisone shot in January, Hamilton was bothered by swelling in the knee after getting to Arizona for spring training. He later had the plasma injection.
“It’s been a tough road for Josh,” manager Jeff Banister said. “I know he wants to compete, I knows he wants to play, I know he wants to be a part of this and is not going to be able to. … It’s another long road back to play this game.”
Free agent Ian Desmond, a shortstop his entire career with the Washington Nationals, was signed by the Rangers during spring training and has since become an everyday outfielder.
Texas reacquired Hamilton in a trade last season from the Angels, the team with which the slugger signed a $125 million, five-year deal after leaving the Rangers in free agency following the 2012 season.
That trade in April 2015 was made when Hamilton was coming back from shoulder surgery. He hit .253 with eight homers in 170 at-bats over 50 games for the Rangers last season.
The Angels have to pay the Rangers for all of Hamilton’s $24 million salary this season, and $22 million of the $24 million the outfielder is due in 2017, as part of their trade.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
