Dodgers SS Corey Seager wins Sporting News NL Rookie of the Year

Ryan Fagan

Dodgers SS Corey Seager wins Sporting News NL Rookie of the Year image

Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager is Sporting News' 2016 National League Rookie of the Year, as selected by a panel of 176 NL players. SN has given out Rookie of the Year awards since 1946.

Corey Seager is the reason most teams hate trading away elite prospects.

Seager, the Dodgers’ first-round pick in the 2012 draft out of Northwest Carrabus High just outside of Charlotte, N.C., could have brought several different big-name players back to Los Angeles in any number of blockbuster deals before the 2015 non-waiver trade deadline. He’s long had the potential to be a star, and the folks in the L.A. front office — and front offices around baseball — knew that.

And the folks in L.A. love big names. The bigger the star, the more that town loves them, right? Remember the Manny Ramirez era, after the team landed him in a deal with the Red Sox? To casual Dodgers fans, this prospect they kept hearing about, some shortstop whose brother played for the Mariners, probably seemed like an expendable trade chip.

There’s a reason the front-office brain trust, led by team president Andrew Friedman and GM Farhan Zaidi, held onto Seager, though. And once Seager arrived in the majors, in September last year, casual Dodgers fans found out what the front office — and plugged-in Dodgers fans — already knew.

MORE: Sporting News MLB Players of the Year, 1936-2015

“He came up about a month to go in the season and he looked like he belonged there,” veteran Dodgers infielder Chase Utley told Sporting News. “You don't really see that too often from a guy his age starting out in the big leagues.”

In that first month in the bigs, Seager hit .337 with a .987 OPS, four homers and 17 RBIs in 27 games. He went from a guy who figured to get little more than a first taste of the majors to an essential lineup fixture to a starter in the postseason.

And he spent the entire 2016 season proving that first glimpse was no fluke. Seager showed he was the star L.A. fans wanted, batting .308 with an .877 OPS, 26 homers, 72 RBIs, 105 runs scored, 40 doubles and a 137 OPS+. He led the team average, OPS, OPS+, runs and doubles while finishing just one off the team lead in home runs. Oh, yeah, and he made the All-Star team, too.

So it’s no surprise that Seager is the winner of Sporting News’ NL Rookie of the year, an award that is — as always — voted on solely by NL players. Seager won the award in a landslide, earning 143 votes, 128 more than second-place finisher Trea Turner of the Nationals (full results below).

MORE: Tigers' Michael Fulmer is Sporting News AL Rookie of the Year

"I haven't seen a rookie do what he's done, make the impact that he has, the growth,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “He doesn't scare off. He's been our most consistent player all year long, and he's out there every night playing a premium defensive position."

That consistency was pretty key for a Dodgers team that struggled with injuries all season. Without his bat near the top of the lineup — he hit second or third in 143 of his 149 starts — this team probably doesn’t make the playoffs.

Look at the month-by-month numbers in the middle of the season, while he was carrying the otherwise-limping L.A. offense:
 
May: 28 games, .301 average, .842 OPS, 13 extra-base hits, 15 RBIs
June: 28 games, .343 average, 1.085 OPS, 17 extra-base hits, 13 RBIs
July: 21 games, .347 average, .891 OPS, 12 extra-base hits, 10 RBIs
August: 28 games, .330 average, .943 OPS, 12 extra-base hits, 12 RBIs
 
Yeah. Pretty darn good.

“Doesn't seem like any situation phases him,” Utley said. “He's able to put great at-bats against lefties, righties, it really doesn't matter. And he's continued to improve and evolve over this year. He's definitely a bright spot in the Dodgers’ future.”
He’s a bright spot in the Dodgers’ present, too. 

Previous Dodgers rookies to be honored by Sporting News include Jackie Robinson (1947), Don Newcombe (1949), Joe Black (1952), Jim Gilliam (1953), Frank Howard (1960), Don Sutton (1966), Rick Sutcliffe (1979), Fernando Valenzuela (1981), Tim Belcher (1988), Eric Karros (1992), Mike Piazza (1993), Raul Mondesi (1994) and Hideo Nomo (1995).

VOTING RESULTS

1. Corey Seager, Los Angeles Dodgers-143

2. Trea Turner, Washington Nationals-15

3. Kenta Madea, Los Angeles Dodgers-6

4. Trevor Story, Colorado Rockies-5

5. Seung-hwan Oh, St. Louis Cardinals-3

6. Aledmys Diaz, St. Louis Cardinals-2

Other-2

THIS WEEK’S SN AWARD SCHEDULE

Monday: Rookies of the Year (AL and NL) and Managers of the Year (AL and NL)

Tuesday: Comeback Players of the Year (AL and NL)

Wednesday: AL All-Star Team | NL All-Star Team

Thursday: MLB Player of the Year

 

 

Ryan Fagan

Ryan Fagan Photo

Ryan Fagan, the national MLB writer for The Sporting News, has been a Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2016. He also dabbles in college hoops and other sports. And, yeah, he has way too many junk wax baseball cards.