Corey Seager entered the 2019 season as a major wild card for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Coming off two significant surgeries that limited him to only 26 games a year ago, there was plenty of uncertainty surrounding him and whether he would be able to recapture previous form.
A two-time All-Star, Seager quickly established himself as one of the top young shortstops in all of baseball prior to undergoing separate Tommy John and hip operations in 2018.
His return to the Dodgers lineup further bolstered one of the best position-player groups in the league. And while Seager has flashed glimpses of past success at various points this season, his 2019 campaign has been more of a learning curve if anything else.
With more than two-thirds of the regular season now complete, Seager admitted that there have been plenty of growing pains in what has essentially been a transition year for him, via Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times:
He described this season as “extremely tough,” except he didn’t sound frustrated.
As one would expect given his long layoff, Seager initially struggled out of the gate this season. He hit just .236/.333/.364 in 32 games over parts of March and April.
Despite early woes at the plate, the 25-year-old brushed them off and seemingly turned a corner the following month. Looking more like his pre-surgery self, he batted .264/.347/.506 with five home runs and 20 RBI in 24 games.
Unfortunately for Seager, his season would take an unlucky turn after suffering a left hamstring strain at the end of May. The injury sidelined him over the next month of play — a disappointing development considering how well he was swinging the bat.
Seager returned before the close of June and picked up where he left off, hitting an impressive .425/.465/.675 with eight extra-base hits and nine RBI in 10 games.
However, the young shortstop endured another rough patch in July. He struggled mightily at the plate, batting a mere .250/.319/.344 in 18 games. Seager recorded just four extra-base hits during the month and struck out in over 19% of his plate appearances.
The struggles have since carried over into August, where Seager entered Sunday’s series finale against the Arizona Diamondbacks batting a season-low .179 in eight games. He has homered only once dating back to June 4 — a span of 33 games.
In 92 overall games this season, Seager began the day hitting .262/.340/.428 (103 OPS+) with 28 doubles, nine home runs and 47 RBI over 376 plate appearances.
