Dodgers: Corey’s In The House

Following a vital three-game sweep of the San Francisco Giants, the Dodgers got a little bit of mixed news.

The good: The top prospect and the future SS/3B Corey Seager is being called up for the Dodgers’ series in San Diego.

The bad:

You would think that by now, Darwinism and evolution would have made hamstrings obsolete. Jose Peraza will be unavailable for a few days, and not mentioned by Rosenthal, but Justin Turner reportedly received X-Rays after being hit by a pitch in the hand in last nights’ game. Enrique Hernandez and Howie Kendrick are already on the shelf with hamstrings, so basically the Dodgers are running out of infielders and outfielders.

Seager will be called up and should get ample playing time. Rosenthal kind of suggests that he’ll be Jimmy Rollins‘ backup, but Seager has played third before and many believe he will move there eventually due to his size, which excites me because IMO his career floor will be Manny Machado, and his ceiling is probably Cal Ripken Jr./ Alex Rodriguez without the juice.

Had second-half Jimmy not shown up, Seager likely would have been called up a while ago. While Rollins’ numbers in the second half still aren’t great, they’re good enough to justify playing time if you add in + defense at short, which looks like an infinite number of plus’s (plusi?) if you compare it to Hanley Ramirez last year. Seager also hasn’t exactly killed it at AAA, slashing .276/.331/.450 in 104 games.

Mar 4, 2015; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Corey Seager against the Chicago White Sox during a spring training baseball game at Camelback Ranch. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Of those 104 games, Seager has played shortstop 89 times and third 15 times. It’s probably the most imperfect stat in baseball, especially in that sort of sample size, but he has a .973 fielding percentage at short and .962 at short. He’s not supposed to be an elite defensive player, but he’s supposed to be athletic enough and good enough to manage it while raking at the plate.

This is the part where I remind fans to please temper expectations. It’s even harder this year with a number of young rookies destroying at the plate. As much as I want Seager to do Carlos Correa-y things, he is definitely the exception and not what we all should expect. He has 545 plate appearances in the minors this year, which is 10 more than the most any Dodger has (Adrian Gonzalez has 535). He’s gotta be tired and worn down already, and he’s only 21. Remember Joc Pederson‘s September last year? Don’t expect that, but it wouldn’t shock me if Seager came up and struggled. Don’t put too much pressure on the kid.

But at the same time, be excited. This is the Dodgers’ future. Him, along with Julio Urias (who is not called up yet) will be the household name’s we’re all talking about for the next 10 years hopefully. It’s going to be fun. This season is fun. When baseball games don’t span two months, baseball is fun.