Report: Rangers catcher Mitch Garver to undergo season-ending forearm surgery

The 31-year-old is in his first season with the Rangers, acquired from the Twins in March for Isiah Kiner-Falefa and minor-leaguer Ronny Henriquez. 

Garver hasn't caught a game behind the plate since May 8 but has been able to hit, acting as the Rangers' designated hitter over 23 games since suffering the injury. 

After missing 11 games in May, Garver missed 10 more in June on the COVID IL, which reportedly made the injury more uncomfortable. 

In June, Rangers manager Chris Woodward said the decision for Garver to have surgery during the season or not depended heavily on where the team stood in the playoff hunt. 

"If we do go down that road, then we have to decide where we're at in the standings," Woodward told Weaver. "If it's a pretty steep mountain to climb, then it probably wouldn't make sense to hang on. But if we're on a tear, pull of seven or eight in a row, or just somehow get into a really good position, that's a much tougher decision. And you never know. If you've got an opportunity, a chance to win the bracket, if we pull it off, I think he'd probably want to be part of that." 

Nearing the All-Star break, the Rangers sit in third place in the AL West, 16 games behind the first-place Houston Astros. While they're just 6.0 games back of a wild-card spot, they have several teams to leap-frog, including the Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Guardians and Seattle Mariners. The Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays and Toronto Blue Jays currently occupy the three AL wild-card spots. 

In 51 games this season, Garver is batting .212/.292/.419 with 10 home runs and 22 RBI.