The Los Angeles Dodgers’ depth will be put to the test in the coming weeks in the wake of Corey Seager going down with a hamstring injury while running the bases in the ninth inning of Tuesday night’s loss to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Seager was immediately removed from the game and diagnosed with a left hamstring strain. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said an MRI was in order, but the club believed their shortstop suffered an injury in the neighborhood of a Grade 2 strain.
That severity would call for Seager to miss at least one month. He was placed on the 10-day injured list, with Matt Beaty being reinstated to take his place on the active roster.
Before Thursday’s game against the Chicago Cubs, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts spoke for the first time since Seager underwent his MRI and provided some details on the injury but did not outline a timetable for hist return, via David Vassegh of AM 570 LA Sports:
Dave Roberts said Seager’s MRI showed a Grade 1/Grade 2 sprain to his left hamstring. “Honestly I don’t know when he will be back.” #Dodgers
— David Vassegh (@THEREAL_DV) June 13, 2019
According to J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group, it may be close to one week before Seager can begin the rehab process:
Seager will need “4, 5, 6” days of rest, Roberts said.
— J.P. Hoornstra (@jphoornstra) June 13, 2019
While it is obviously a tough break for Seager, who was playing the best he had all season before going down with the injury, the diagnosis is less severe than the Dodgers originally thought, which is a bit of a positive to take away from the situation.
Seager was in the middle of season-best nine-game hitting streak, putting together five multi-hit games in that span while batting .459/.487/.730 with seven doubles, one home run and nine RBI. In his last 26 games, the 25-year-old was hitting .354/.409/.646 with 11 doubles, six home runs and 26 RBI.
Those numbers are astounding considering Seager missed almost all of the 2018 season due to Tommy John and hip surgeries, and expectedly didn’t look like his usual self throughout the first month of this year.
The Dodgers currently have a nine-game lead in the National League West so they will likely look at internal options to replace Seager until he is able to return. Chris Taylor and Kiké Hernandez are the primary candidates to see increased playing time at shortstop.
While it is unlikely to happen this season, it will be interesting to see if the Dodgers have any plans to move off the shortstop position in the future due to all of the injuries he has dealt with, which include back, elbow, hip and now hamstring issues.
