Steve Webb
The road to repeating as World Series Champs just got a whole lot more complicated. Corey Seager, arguably the Dodgers’ best player during their magical run of 2020, will be heading to the Injured List after sustaining a fracture to his hand in Saturday night’s game against the Miami Marlins. At this point, a timetable for his return is unclear, but given the type of injury it is, the star shortstop doesn’t figure to be back in the lineup anytime soon.
“I think that we’re all concerned about him and the extent of the injury,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts after the game. “Obviously, you don’t want to lose any player for an extended period of time.”
HBP immediately sidelines Seager
The injury occurred during Saturday night’s 7-0 win against the Marlins. In Seager’s AB in the fifth inning, he took a high and tight fastball from Miami reliever Ross Detwiler. Seager was unable to get out of the way of the heater, and the ball hit hard off his right hand, crushing the hand between the ball and the handle of the bat. Seager immediately dropped to his knees in pain, and was quickly replaced in the lineup by Sheldon Neuse for the rest of the game.
Dodgers fighting through early season injuries
This is the latest in a string of injuries that have plagued the Dodgers in the first two months of the season. Of the players on the Opening Day roster, nearly a third are currently on the IL: Cody Bellinger, Zach McKinstry, Edwin Rios, AJ Pollock, Dustin May, Corey Knebel, Scott Alexander, and David Price. In addition, Tony Gonsolin and Brusdar Graterol, who were injured at the beginning of the year, are also still on the shelf.
Roberts said Seager was still “in some pain” after the game and the hand had already swelled up. Additional on-site testing revealed that Seager’s injury was indeed severe.
Seager had shown signs of life at the plate
In the last ten days or so, Seager, like many of his teammates, seemed to be coming out of a hitting funk that had enveloped the Dodgers during the last few weeks of April and the beginning of May. During the last seven games, his batting average was .333 and he delivered a key RBI single in Tuesday night’s win against the Mariners.
Questions abound for recovery
But all that will have to be put on hold while the Dodgers’ star nurses this latest injury. Seager has already missed an entire year of big-league time in his young career, when he had to sit out all of 2018 due to Tommy John surgery. Seager is in his walk year, so obviously he will be eager to get back on the field as soon as possible, but in the meantime the Dodgers will have to make due with out him.
Infield Options
Luckily manager Dave Roberts does have options. Both Gavin Lux and Chris Taylor have extensive experience at the shortstop position, so they will probably get the majority of starts in Seager’s absence. In addition, the Dodgers have Sheldon Neuse on the roster now, who could play any number of infield positions. With the reported addition of first baseman Albert Pujols, that will also free up Max Muncy to play other infield positions if necessary. Finally, the Dodgers recently obtained middle infielder Travis Blankenhorn from the Twins and OF/IF Yoshi Tsutsugo from the Rays to add further depth going forward this year.
And go forward the Dodgers must. It’s never great when a star player goes down with injury, but it’s an inevitable part of baseball. What separates the champions from the also-rans is how a team responds to those set-backs.
The Dodgers are being truly tested this year. Which will make any success in October all the more sweet. Hopefully soon enough, we’ll be cheering on the Corey Seager that we knew last October…
