For the second straight year, the Los Angeles Dodgers will need to move ahead without Corey Seager for a significant amount of time due to injury. Fortunately, Seager will return after suffering hamstring strain, whereas Tommy John surgery ended his 2018 season prematurely.
Though, no timetable has officially been set for a return and Seager himself is anxious over the uncertainty of rehabbing from his latest injury. He is still dealing with soreness and is at least a few days away from beginning workouts.
Chris Taylor and Kiké Hernandez filled in at shortstop immediately after Seager went down last season and up until the Dodgers traded for Manny Machado in July. Hernandez earned the starting job at second base this year, and Taylor has been relied upon in a utility role.
But with Seager on the shelf, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts again plans to have Taylor and Hernandez spend time at shortstop in the interim, per Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
The Dodgers activated Matt Beaty and wouldn’t offer a timetable for Seager’s return, but the best guess is a month from now, coming out of the All-Star break. Until then, manager Dave Roberts said Seager will be replaced at shortstop by Chris Taylor and Enrique Hernandez.
Taylor is batting a meager .220/.287/.390 in 2019, while Hernandez has been slightly worse with a slash line of .212/.281/.387. Despite that, both have appeared in over 60 games this season thanks in part to their stellar defense at several key positions.
Max Muncy has gotten more looks at second base in recent weeks as he and David Freese, who plays Muncy’s primary position of first base, have both been hitting well.
Regardless of how well Taylor and Hernandez are performing, any time Seager misses is still a significant blow to the Dodgers.
In the two weeks prior to pulling his hamstring late in Wednesday’s game against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Seager was the best-hitting shortstop in the Major Leagues by far.
He was batting an incredible .411/.459/.732 with three home runs and 14 RBI over that stretch, carrying a Dodgers offense that struggled through a .500 road trip. Before his injury-marred 2018, Seager had been in All-Star in each of his first two full seasons in the Majors and was the 2016 National League Rookie of the Year.
Ironically, the first game after the All-Star break in 2018 marked Machado’s debut with the Dodgers. By then, the team knew that Seager would miss the rest of the year, making a rental like Machado necessary to fill the big void Seager left.
This season, however, Seager himself will eventually be able to fill that void. Until then, it is up to Taylor and Hernandez to make the most of their new opportunity.
