Dodgers have a healthy Corey Seager this October, which is a welcome change
The answer came quickly, only the briefest pause for reflection and to review the inventory of past problems.
“No.”
With that, Corey Seager acknowledges a fact – he has never really entered a postseason with the Dodgers in good health.
In 2015, Seager was a September call-up, handed the job as the Dodgers’ starting shortstop (over veteran Jimmy Rollins). By the time the Dodgers were eliminated by the New York Mets in the NL Division Series, the 21-year-old Seager had played more than 150 games after never having played more than 118 in a season in his life. He went 3 for 16 (.188) with eight strikeouts against the Mets.
In 2016, Seager had just fashioned a regular season that would make him the unanimous choice as NL Rookie of the Year and a finalist for NL MVP. But he was running on fumes in the postseason with an unspecified leg issue that he still hesitates to acknowledge.
“Yeah, pretty much (ran out of gas),” said Seager, who hit .205 before the Dodgers were eliminated in the NLCS by the Chicago Cubs. Then, he recants, saying he was “healthy” – but not with great conviction.
“I don’t remember,” he said with a chuckle. “Let’s go that way.”
In 2017, Seager’s elbow – which would require Tommy John surgery nine months later – became an issue down the stretch. With the Dodgers coasting to the finish, he was given a week off. Then he injured his back during the NLDS sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks and was not on the roster for the NLCS rematch with the Cubs. He returned for the World Series and went 6 for 27 (.222) against the Houston Astros.
Last October, Seager was just an interested observer. In the early stages of recovery from that Tommy John surgery and an arthroscopic surgery on his left hip.
“Last year was really tough,” Seager said. “Just missing alone is tough, then watching them go through the postseason (without me). …”
In all, Seager has batted just .214 in the 26 postseason games he has been able to play in with a .648 OPS – well below his regular-season standards.
“Yeah, I don’t think we’ve had a healthy Corey Seager. I didn’t really realize that, but you’re right,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said when Seager’s fall history was pointed out to him. “I think this is as good as he’s felt going into the postseason. I guess I didn’t appreciate him not being healthy going into other postseasons.”
Seager certainly appreciates his current state after the twin-surgery ordeal of 2018. His comeback season was interrupted for a month by a hamstring injury at midseason. That issue briefly raised its head again last week. Seager was out of the lineup for one game after feeling tightness in his hamstring running the bases in San Diego. But he dismissed that as more worrisome for others than it was for him.
“Physically, I feel great,” he said during the final week of the regular season. “There really isn’t a lot of things wrong. You just have the usual end-of-the-year – whatever, you know. But for the most part, it’s just nice feeling healthy.
“As much ups and downs as you have during the year, just being able to look back at the end and say, ‘Okay, you made it through the year healthy’ – it was a total win in my book.”
In his comeback season, Seager set career-highs with 44 doubles (tied for the National League lead) and, by virtue of hitting lower in the lineup for much of the season, 87 RBIs.
His .272 average and .817 OPS were buoyed by a late-season surge – that bodes well for his contributions in October. Over the final two weeks, Seager hit .396. In September as a whole, he had a .960 OPS with 13 extra-base hits (five doubles, one triple and seven home runs) and 26 RBIs in his final 22 games.“I would say the feel, for sure,” Seager said when asked if he was as comfortable with his swing now as he has been all year. “It’s kind of similar to before the hamstring injury (a .336 average and 1.008 OPS over a 31-game stretch).
“Just being able to kind of dictate and control what you’re doing at the plate, it’s a confidence thing. It helps with that. It helps you be able to perform just because you know you’re in spots you want to be in. You know you can dictate things that you’d like. That’s just confidence. A lot of confidence.”
It should also give Seager confidence that he will be able to contribute in the postseason closer to his full ability than he has in the past.
“Hopefully, you can,” he said. “Hopefully, the bat shows up. Hopefully, you go out and perform and help your team win and be healthy and know that you can perform if you are healthy. Yeah, it’s just a win being healthy at the end of the year. It’s just a win.”
from Daily Bulletin https://ift.tt/2o3lIZS
https://ift.tt/eA8V8J
Comments
Post a Comment