Nimmo could 'potentially' go on IL with AC joint sprain

CLEVELAND -- On Sunday, Brandon Nimmo sealed the Rangers’ win Saturday over the Blue Jays with a fantastic catch, during which he crashed into the right field wall at Rogers Centre. While it may have sealed one of the Rangers’ biggest wins of the season, it may end up hurting them in the long run.

After the Rangers’ 6-3 win over the Guardians on Monday, Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said that Nimmo has an AC joint (located in the top of the shoulder) sprain in his left shoulder.

“We’ll see what it looks like,” Schumaker said. “He’s having some tests done and having more conversations with doctors.”

Schumaker added that Nimmo could “potentially” go on the injured list.

The loss of Nimmo would be a huge blow to a Rangers team that’s navigating a plethora of injuries on the fly while in the midst of playing 15 games in 15 days.

On Monday alone, they welcomed two new faces to the roster in the team’s No. 13 prospect Cameron Cauley and veteran pitcher Chris Paddack, and those additions came before Nimmo’s injury looked like anything more than a day-to-day thing.

The injury would also come a day after the Rangers placed Wyatt Langford on the injured list with a hamstring strain that’s expected to keep him out for most of July.

Nimmo entered Monday with a .262/.333/.420 slash line with eight home runs and 29 RBIs in 82 games for the Rangers this season. It also looked like he was finally starting to turn things around, as he had a .759 OPS in 25 games in June after hitting just .214 in May.

While he’s dealt with a hamstring injury early in the season, this is the first time he’s had an upper body injury.

Nimmo’s injury could end up making Cauley even more important given his ability to bounce around the diamond. Although he made his big league debut at second base on Monday, he’s played an extensive amount of center field in the Minors.

Josh Smith is the only player at Triple-A Round Rock who is on the 40-man roster and has outfield experience, though he’s been worth -1 Outs Above Average in the outfield in his career.

On Monday, the Rangers showed just how much grit they have by picking up a win that was led by a rookie (Cauley), a player who started the season with the Cubs (Nicky Lopez) and a pitcher who was officially signed earlier that day (Paddack).

A pessimist may say that’s an unsustainable method of winning. But Schumaker sounded like the furthest thing from a pessimist after Texas’ win on Monday.

“We had Joc [Pederson], Nimmo and [Corey] Seager sitting on the bench with Langford next to them today and you would never know it,” Schumaker said. “There’s a ton of fight on this team and in this clubhouse.”