One of the biggest factors for the Los Angeles Dodgers during the 2019 season is the health of Corey Seager. The unanimous 2016 National League Rookie of the Year, Seager suffered a major blow last May when he was forced to undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the rest of the season.
Before his injury, Seager had widely been considered one of the brightest young stars across all of Major League Baseball. After his breakout rookie season helped propel the Dodgers back to the postseason, Seager followed that up with another excellent year in 2017.
In each of his two full MLB seasons, he was named an All-Star and Silver Slugger winner and received MVP votes. His injury last season left a void that the Dodgers eventually filled by trading for Manny Machado in July.
Seager is slowly working his way back during Spring Training and has yet to appear in a Cactus League game. He did, however, clear a big hurdle by playing three innings at shortstop in a Minor League game.
Seager only had one ball hit to him but was pleased with how the day went, per Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“It was nice to move around. It was. It’s been a long time,” Seager said. “It was just nice to get on the field again. You have to try and find the timing of pre-pitch and stuff like that. But for the most part, it was a lot smoother than I expected.”
Seager has previously described his entire rehab process as smoother than he expected. His progression recently led to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, reiterating the club fully expects Seager to be ready for Opening Day, which is now less than two week away.
However, it has not yet been determined when Seager will start alongside his Dodgers teammates in a Cactus League game.
