The Los Angeles Dodgers’ bats have gotten off to a slow start to the 2018 season, with the team on-base plus slugging percentage at a minuscule .578 through the first nine games. That’s near the bottom of the Majors, ranking 27th overall.
One of the players who has been struggling is two-time All-Star Corey Seager. While appearing in eight games, he’s batting .206/.308/.206 and is without an extra-base hit. Moreover, he’s drawn five walks and has six strikeouts.
Seager didn’t have a full workload in Spring Training due to recovering from an elbow injury. It marked a third consecutive year he dealt with some malaise in camp.
Because of his shortened spring, Seager said he is still working through things in regards to his swing but he is almost where he wants to be, per Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“I’m getting there,” Seager said when asked if the video work had unearthed any secrets. “It’s just going to take time, getting more swings.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Seager needs to remain confident and true to his approach at the plate as pitchers work to get the better of him:
“I think with Corey it’s easy to see they’re not going to give in to him,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “They’re going to pitch to the corners and try to have Corey get himself out and potentially make Yasiel beat them.
“Corey understands that. When he’s in the strike zone, he’s as good as any hitter in baseball. When he’s aggressive out of the strike zone, it makes him pretty average. He understands that but it’s not his intent. Just being diligent in the strike zone is going to make him much better.”
Seager went 0-for-3 in Sunday’s win over the San Francisco Giants, although he did walk twice. Another positive development is that Seager is healthy and his elbow is not causing him any issues, so it is only a matter of time before he gets back to playing at an All-Star level.
