The lowdown on Corey Seager

Shortstop Corey Seager has enjoyed a decorated career that includes a National League Rookie of the Year Award, two NL Silver Slugger Awards, two All-Star selections, and NLCS and World Series MVP Awards. After seven productive but injury-marred seasons with the Dodgers, he's moving on to Texas, having reached a 10-year, $325 million deal with the Rangers (per a source).

Here’s what you need to know about Seager:

FAST FACTS
Birthdate: April 27, 1994 (Age 28 in 2022)
Primary position: SS
Height/weight: 6-foot-4, 215 lbs.
Bats/throws: Left/right
Place of birth: Charlotte, N.C.
School(s): Northwest Cabarrus (N.C.) HS
Drafted: 1st round (18th), 2012, by Dodgers
MLB debut: Sept. 3, 2015
Qualifying offer: Received one; declined

THE NUMBERS
2021: .306/.394/.521 (145 OPS+), 16 HR, 3.7 WAR* in 95 G
Career: .297/.367/.504 (131 OPS+), 104 HR, 21.3 WAR in 636 G
*Per Baseball-Reference

STAT TO KNOW
Among all shortstops in AL/NL history with at least 2,000 plate appearances through their age-27 season, Seager ranks 6th in OPS+, behind only Alex Rodriguez, Nomar Garciaparra, Hanley Ramirez, and Hall of Famers Ernie Banks and Arky Vaughan.

QUESTION MARK
Between Tommy John surgery in 2018, a hamstring strain in 2019, the pandemic-shortened schedule in 2020 and a right hand fracture sustained on a hit-by-pitch in 2021, Seager has averaged only 77 games played over the past four seasons.

He’s part of an exclusive postseason club
Only eight players in postseason history have taken MVP honors in both the League Championship Series and World Series in the same season. Seager is the most recent, having accomplished that feat in 2020. In 13 games between the two series, Seager batted .347/.439/.816 with seven home runs and 16 RBIs. His eight homers in the 2020 postseason as a whole are tied for the second most in history.

He's always hit, at every level
As a professional, Seager has performed with the bat with incredible consistency. He owns a batting average over .300 and an OPS over .900 at each of the following: Rookie level, Class A, Class A-Advanced and Double-A. (He hit a mere .278 with a .783 OPS at Triple-A). With the exception of 2018, when he was limited to 26 games, Seager has hit at least .295 with an .850 OPS in five of his six big league seasons as well.

Don't call him a "short"-stop
Historically, shortstops have not been big-bodied players, being selected more for their agility in the field than their strength at the plate. Cal Ripken Jr. revolutionized the position when he arrived in 1981, but 40 years later, a man of Seager’s size (6-foot-4, 215 pounds) stationed at short remains a rarity. Through 2021, he is one of four players listed at 6-foot-4 or taller to play even 100 career games at the position, and one of three (along with Ripken and Carlos Correa) to last at least 500 games.

He’s overshadowed his big brother
It can be tough being the younger brother of a star athlete, but Corey has turned the tables. Kyle Seager, older by six years and also a free agent this offseason, preceded Corey at Northwest Cabarrus High School, in the Charlotte area. He then went to the University of North Carolina, became a third-round pick of the Mariners (2009) and developed into a 2014 All-Star who has hit 242 homers over 11 big league seasons. Yet Corey grabbed the spotlight when he arrived in The Show in late 2015 and posted a .986 OPS in that final month, following up with an NL Rookie of the Year campaign in ‘16. Kyle had a little fun with that during Player’s Weekend in 2017, wearing a jersey that said “Corey’s brother” on the back. Their mom, Jody, also has rocked a split jersey when they’ve played against each other.