Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager made his long-anticipated Major League debut last September and lived up to the billing. With Jimmy Rollins sidelined due to a sprained right index finger, Seager was immediately thrown into the fire.
He started at shortstop in his first game up with the Dodgers — going 2-for-4 with one double, two RBIs and two runs scored against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. It was a precursor of what was to come over the final month of the regular season and into the playoffs.
As Rollins continued to miss time, Seager’s play led to him taking over at shortstop even once the veteran recovered from the minor injury.
Now Seager enters Spring Training essentially as a lock to be the Dodgers starting shortstop come Opening Day.
While he impressed with the club over a short span in 2015, this season will present the 21 year old with the challenge of getting through a full slate at the Major League level for the first time in his career.
That task is made slightly more difficult as Seager isn’t entering camp in the condition he hoped to be in. After battling strep throat in December, the promising shortstop eventually needed to get his tonsils removed, which led to significant weight loss.
In an interview with David Vassegh on AM 570’s Dodger Talk, Seager said he’s managed to gain some weight since the procedure:
“I lost some weight this offseason, so we’ll see how it plays out. … That was unfortunate. I lost about 15 pounds over two weeks, so that was a little tough to take. I put some of it back on, but not too much.”
Seager went on to add the process isn’t one that is ideal at this stage of the offseason:
“I was about 10 pounds under [prior to removing tonsils] what I wanted to report to for Spring Training, so this past week or two, I’ve been trying to put on better weight. Not just weight to get back to what I want to be. It’s been a struggle. It’s a little late in the offseason to be doing something like that, but it had to be done. It’s one of those things where you just kind of have to adjust and move on.”
On top of already facing high expectations give last season’s performance, Seager was ranked the consensus No. 1 overall prospect by Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, ESPN and MLB.com.
Seager hit .337/.425/.561 with four home runs, eight doubles, 17 RBIs, a .421 wOBA and 175 wRC+ in 27 games with the Dodgers. He began the season with Double-A Tulsa, where he batted .375/.407/.675 with five home runs, seven doubles and 15 RBIs over 20 games.
After joining Triple-A Oklahoma City on May 1, Seager hit .278/.332/.451 with 13 home runs, 30 doubles and 61 RBIs in 105 games. Dodgers first baseman said recently he believes Seager has the makings of a Hall of Fame player.
