Perhaps the biggest injury concern surrounding the Los Angeles Dodgers this spring is the right elbow of Corey Seager, as up until Monday he had yet to play shortstop in any capacity.
Seager’s throwing program progressed to the point where he could finally take the field on Monday, as he played five innings of defense in a ‘B’ game on a backfield at Camelback Ranch.
Seager made two plays at shortstop in his five innings, and according to Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group, came out of the game without feeling any ill-effects in the elbow:
“It was good,” the Dodgers shortstop said after the game. “I wasn’t really worried about that. I was kind of more just worried about getting into some games and getting into the flow of things.
“When you first start throwing again you never know if it’s going to – whatever. So once you threw a ball and there really wasn’t much, once you kind of start extending and (feel) nothing still then you don’t really worry about much.”
While Seager’s elbow doesn’t affect him at the plate, it is still good to see him swinging the bat well in recent days after a slow start to the spring. He went 2-for-3 as the designated hitter in Sunday’s win over the Colorado Rockies, and then homered in his first at-bat on Monday.
While it seems like Seager is not concerned and ready to put this elbow issue behind him, the Dodgers do have a backup plan in place in case he is forced to missed time in the regular season.
Chris Taylor, who is currently penciled in as the team’s starting center fielder, is a natural shortstop and has been taking groundballs there this spring. The super utility man said he is prepared to play shortstop in the event Seager is unable to.
Next for the 2016 Rookie of the Year is more action in the field, which could come in a Cactus League game on Wednesday.
