Dodgers: 3 LAD players who still have major leaps to make in 2021

2. Corey Seager

Corey Seager’s solutions here aren’t quite as cut-and-dried as Smith’s, but there’s still reason to believe in his metrics.

Thus far in 2021, Seager is hitting a mere .257 with a .352 OBP and .459 SLG, slightly below what the Dodgers are looking for from the man who was their playoff centerpiece in 2020. Many of his underlying statistics, though, place him right in line with the man who carried the team last fall.

Seager’s average exit velocity has fallen only slightly, from 93.2 MPH to 91.9 MPH, both well up from his 88.8 average in 2019. His WOBA sits at .351, but his xWOBA is nearly 50 points higher at .396. That’s a big gap for our guy to make up as things normalize a bit.

Unfortunately, it seems like pitchers thus far have attempted to attack Seager differently after he proved himself flammable in October 2020. He’s seeing more breaking balls and fewer fastballs than ever before.

The good news? He’s chasing less often than he did even in 2020 (30.3% of the time in ’20 to 27.8% this time around).

It seems Seager’s still adjusting to what he’s facing, but he’s doing it fairly well, hitting the ball almost as hard as last season while chasing pitches out of the zone less often.

Keep checking those X stats.