The past month has been rough for the Los Angeles Dodgers and in particular Corey Seager, who’s been dogged by a sore right elbow. Indication of Seager’s trouble first surfaced during the Aug. 18-20 series with the Detroit Tigers.
He played through discomfort before it ultimately limited Seager to pinch-hit duty for a stretch of 10 days. He completed a four-day throwing program prior to returning to the lineup Sept. 8. Any expected boon from Seager has yet to be seen.
The natural reaction would be to blame his sore right elbow, but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts maintained there is only pain when Seager throws. “In talking to him, which I do every single day, he just thinks there’s a mechanical thing he needs to clean up,” Roberts said.
“Talking to the hitting coaches and training staff, the health is there. His swing isn’t compensated because of his elbow.”
Since he was a designated hitter in the series opener against the Tigers, Seager is batting .226/.263/.274 with two doubles, one home run and 12 RBI in 30 games (24 starts), and had just three multi-hit games during that span.
“I haven’t gone back the last two or three weeks as far as the numbers, but he’s not swinging the bat the way he would like,” Roberts said. “We’re going to keep running him out there, and we expect that he’ll turn the corner.”
Seager initially deemed his elbow to be 100 percent healthy, though soon after said an MRI revealed some ‘problems’ that would need to be addressed during the offseason — implying minor surgery is necessary.
Overall this season, the two-time All-Star is hitting .293/.373/.469 with 32 doubles, 20 home runs and 71 RBI. He was on pace for a season comparable to his Rookie of the Year campaign, but the recent skid now has Seager’s statistics and production a notch below last year’s.
