Just as Corey Seager was in the midst of producing at the level that won him two Silver Slugger Awards, he suffered a left hamstring strain in the ninth inning of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ loss to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
His injury added to the sting of the Dodgers getting swept in the Freeway Series. While addressing the media after the loss, manager Dave Roberts said the club did not yet have a timetable but was expecting to be without Seager for a prolonged stretch.
An MRI the following day revealed Seager suffered what Roberts described as a ‘Grade 1 slash 2’ hamstring strain. Again, a timeline for his return was not provided, but an injury of that nature typically requires a recovery period of at least one month.
Seager is but two weeks into that process and already showing encouraging signs of progress. He recently resumed throwing and has steadily increased his level of activity.
With an eye on beginning a rehab assignment during the All-Star break, the 25-year-old is now running and able to swing a bat, according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
Corey Seager (hamstring) has begun running and swinging a bat.
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) June 25, 2019
Seager’s timeline is running parallel to that of A.J. Pollock’s, as he is recovering from an infection and subsequent elbow surgery. Pollock hopes to be activated off the 10-day injured list when the Dodgers face the Boston Red Sox immediately after the All-Star break.
Although a tentative schedule is in place for Pollock and Seager, it has not been determined if their respective rehab assignments will come with a Minor League affiliate, or if the two will simply log at-bats at Camelback Ranch.
Seager had a nine-game hitting streak, including five multi-hit efforts, at the time of landing on the IL. He hit .459/.487/.730 with seven doubles, one home run and nine RBI during the stretch.
Seager was also in the middle of a hot month of June and overall this season is batting .305/.376/.558 with 18 doubles, seven home runs and 29 RBI in 55 games.
The Dodgers enter play Tuesday night 9-3 in games without Seager. Chris Taylor has received the bulk of the starts at shortstop and hit .368/.444/.711 with four doubles, three home runs and 12 RBI over that span, appearing in all 12 games and making 10 starts.
