Dodgers News: Corey Seager Resumes Baseball Activities, Leaving Difficulty In His Wake
There are many storylines a person gets tired of writing about – I don’t need to name them. However, Corey Seager’s return to baseball for the Dodgers will never be one of them. No – any opportunity to give mention of the road back for this young man is shining a light on something warm, and happy.
Moreover, on Friday at Camelback Ranch in Arizona; Seager did some baseball things. Indeed, this is a happy post for me to add to the scribes.
Seager also spoke with Alden Gonzalez at ESPN about leaving a difficult season in his wake.
Let’s take a look at Seager’s big day.
Corey Seager in action at Spring Training
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) February 15, 2019
Seager got in the box and took a few swings, documented by the Dodgers official twitter account.
.@coreyseager_5’s out here making plays. ? #DodgersST pic.twitter.com/91qFYzL19k
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) February 15, 2019
Then, Seager played the field and took some ground balls. He displayed that up-the-middle range you can all picture vividly in your head. With attention to this – in just a little more than a month – Seager will be doing this in Chavez Ravine in a game that counts.
Corey Seager ran the bases a bit earlier and is now standing in for a bullpen session. pic.twitter.com/3ePWnAAtz0
— Jorge Castillo (@jorgecastillo) February 15, 2019
Finally, Seager finished up the day’s work by standing in the box and getting his eye on some spin rates and live pitching. When you’re as talented as Seager, not much needs to be done to re-train the hitting eye. With this in mind, it’s still great to know he’s on a field and getting ready for a long season ahead.
Seager Speaks About A Difficult Year Without Baseball
Corey Seager isn’t a player filled with a ton of words when asked for a quote. When he speaks about the experience of going through Tommy John Surgery in 2018, you can almost feel his helplessness.
“I didn’t ever want to know what was next, and I didn’t want to know when next was,” Seager said. “I tried to make every day like, ‘That’s what I needed to do today.’ I never wanted to look forward because I never wanted to get antsy.”
Seager sought advice from other players who had the surgery. He also shed 25 pounds by cutting milk from his diet and working out hard. Now again feeling himself, and ready to resume his legendary start to his career.
How good was Corey Seager in 2016 and 2017? For that two-year stretch, Seager batted .302 with a .370 on-base percentage. That was good enough for 12.9 fWAR, fifth-best in baseball during that span.
The Dodgers didn’t get a good player back in action today – they returned a transcendent talent. We can’t ask it enough: how excited does this make you?
Bellinger Feels He Should Be Everyday Player in 2019
Step by step, but in the video Seager flipped the ball underhand to coach/trainer rather than throwing across the diamond. One small step for Seager, one giant leap for Dodgers.
Nice find. Nothing brings me a feeling of a new season like Seager getting ready to lace them up.
The Dodgers missed Corey for his offensive ability against pitchers from either side of the plate. For reasons I do not understand they look that Corey bats from the Left and assume he does not pose much of a threat to a left handed pitcher.
People get hung up on the Left handedness of the Dodger lineup and decry the loss of the right handed Puig. While the stats tell you that Puig did not hit Left handers well compared to Right handed pitchers. While Seager batting from the Left Side hit Left Handed pitchers very well. Verdugo is another example he has hit well everywhere and has not had a huge drop off against left handed pitchers. If people are going to complain about left and right batting they need to look deeper at the actual numbers.
Missing Corey most of the year and Turner for the first part hurt the dodgers against Left handed pitchers.
This years line up will include Seager, Turner, Pollock and Verdugo that all hit Lefties well plus we can hope for the return of a new Barnes to hopefully help.
Spot on!
And Taylor hopefully returns to his 2017 form he can be another guy that can possibly hit both lefties and righties well
I really missed seager last year. I’m looking forward to seeing him back I hope he’s healthy and can resume what’s going to be a good career
Let’s not yet assume Verdugo will do the same against LHP just because he showed he could handle them IN THE MINORS. The LHP in the MLB is far superior and so he’ s not yet proven yet up here. It has to be an over all team effort to be better against LHP and I would concur that guys like Seager, Turner were missed and don’t forget that in Bellinger’s rookie year he did well against them too. (.271 BA if I recall). Bellinger slipped a bit last year but that was against most pitching, but especially LHP. But this off season he came out to DS and was nopw at Camp early to work on things because he wants to be in there daily.
If a player has hit well all through his rise through the system especially a guy like Verdugo that does not have the huge SO red flag that many have then it is a very good bet he will track the same.
It is the guys that do not make consistent contact you have to be concerned with. Guys like Kendall and Peters that seem to have sky high potential but just cannot make contact or control the Strike Outs…
Kendall is a possible 5 tool Guy but so far had not come close to the Majors due to the inability to limit his Strikeouts. Peters is another guy that shows great power but cannot lower his SO rate.
Most MLB Scouts have agreed that Verdugo should transition well and be a solid Gap Power and OBP player with a cannon arm. It is all about Plate Discipline and getting consistent Good At Bats.
Maybe so but also MLB pitching is much tougher and again, many players appear to be tracking well but then find out how tough MLB pitching is compared to the minors. Now Joc got here on the basis of his performance basically against all comers in the minors and look what has happened with him. Keeping some balance in the lineup will certainly help Dodgers from having to face a whole lot of LHP because teams know, that while the PS can be a crap shoot, when it mattered the most Dodgers could not solve the LHP of Boston. And again, it’s not just the LHB that need to show they can hang with LHP it’s an entire team effort because part of those issues where that some of those RHB, such as Puig last year and the year before struggled against LHP.. However Dodgers have a great opportunity to be better because they sure did well against them in 2017. I will only conclude that at the very least Verdugo needs TO EARN a starting spot in the OF. I do concur about Kendall and Peters for sure. Dodgers as a unit must be better at making contact because one might be surprised at the results.
Paul I do not disagree with you. I was incredibly frustrated as a Fan of Baseball watching the Dodgers especially last year in their inability to move the man over and score a runner from third with less than two outs. It drove me crazy. The Strikeouts were infuriating. Roberts explanation and forgiveness for the Strikeouts was also maddening. As an older Dodger Fan I remember when a Mgr like Alston would bench and or fine a player for not moving a man over. It should be about the Team….
I agree with competition for any spot. I think Toles, Verdugo and Pedersen will have a lively competition and Taylor and Kike will push for playing time anywhere they can get it. I also think Taylor and Kike are very underrated by many Dodger fans.
I live in AZ and have been able to watch a lot of Spring games and AZ Fall Games. I really like Verdugo. I will be very surprised if he does not play well. I also have the expectation that Toles if given a shot may push for a roster spot.
I think there will be some very tight competition on which guys earn a spot on that 25 man and who gets a call up early in the Season. A lot of it will be who has options left and who they might be able to trade.
We shall soon see! Which is really part of the fun of baseball…
I leave in Grants pass, Oregon and get the Dodgers broadcasts, both home and road games on MLB Extra Innings from DTV that includes free MLB.TV. Exceptions…because Southern Oregon is part of the broadcast area for the Giants, unfortunately I have to settle for their team feed of the game. Pollock was a good signing , as he is a RHB and that is important , as Freidman and Roberts both knew they were too vulnerable last year against LHP.. I don’t see Toles getting too much of a chance if in fact Pollock is the CF, Verdugo in right, meaning if Bellinger is not at 1st base then he too needs a spot. I don’t envision an all LH hitting OF too often. As for putting the ball in play, and making contact, I was just as annoyed with all the K’s as you and most people here were. I too went to many a game during the Alston era. Roberts, along with other field managers appear to be simply accepting those K’s ‘as part of today’s game’ but that annoys me also to no end. What ultimately happens with Joc and Toles however, we will just have to wait and see.
Also, I am not sure why Kike and CT 3 would be under rated because they both play INF and OF spots very well AND between them last year they accounted for 38 HR’s. Now imagine what they possibly could do if the K numbers go down.
Yes I agree with you, I hope Toles gets a shot but unless they trade Pederson, which I would do if they could get a decent prospect for him. I do not think Toles’s odds are very good.
We will have to wait and see how it plays out. i m hoping Toles burns it up and forces their decision but we shall see.
As far as Taylor and Kike let’s hope that the new hitting coaches and Friedman emphasizing contact and solid at bats gives the players even more incentive to cut down on the SO’s. A few less SO’s and as you stated and those guys can help hit us to the WS. I have hopes for Barnes also and Martin being a long time Dodger fan has always been a favorite.
Hope does Spring eternal….
nice article
Thank you. It was a fun one to write.
I read an LA Times articles yesterday stating the Dodgers/Roberts will be taking a cautious approach when proceeding with Seager. I’m going ahead to state based on this article that the Dodgers decision-makers will place Seager on the “injured-list”(I was about to type DL) to start the 2019 season. Now I hope I am wrong and posters here can berate me all they want. Perhaps this is the smart direction to go as Seager did undergo two major surgeries.
Did I read correctly that Seager is still Not throwing across the diamond(from SS position)? Is this planned by Dodgers brain-trust as part of easing him back into things? Posters who have seen Seager in Arizona, please comment.