LOS ANGELES, CA — In a bit of a surprise, it was announced today that former Dodger great Corey Seager will be coming to LA as part of the American League All-Star team. He will be the replacement for Blue Jays outfielder George Springer, who will be out nursing an injury. In addition, Seager has accepted an invitation to join the field for the high-profile Home Run Derby, slated to take place on Monday evening.
Seager, who had a slow start to his 2022 campaign, currently leads all MLB shortstops in home runs at 21, while slashing .245/.321/.467 (.787 OPS) on the season.
“I view it as an honor,” Seager said of the All-Star invitation. “Anytime you can say you’re an All-Star, that’s an opportunity you want to take. It’ll be extremely exciting for me and [my wife] Mady and my family hopefully. So I’m just looking forward to the week. … It’ll be my first time going back not as a Dodger. So it’ll be an interesting experience in a couple of ways, I think. It’s a place that’s meant a lot to me, so to go back for the first time, it’ll be kind of surreal.”
Indeed. Given the fond memories that most (all?) Dodger fans have of Seager, especially his unreal performance in the 2020 postseason, I’m sure he will be received very warmly by the Dodger Stadium faithful. Losing a star like Seager has been considerably less painful because Trea Turner has proven to be every bit the productive player that Seager was. That doesn’t say anything about who exactly will be manning the shortstop position next year, but let’s worry about that another time.
Welcome back, Corey!
