Draft and minor leagues The
Los Angeles Dodgers of
Major League Baseball (MLB) selected Seager in the first round with the 18th overall selection of the
2012 MLB draft. He received a $2.35 million
signing bonus to sign with the Dodgers instead of attending South Carolina. Seager began his professional career with the
Ogden Raptors of the
Pioneer League, where he had a .309
batting average in 46 games in 2012. He was promoted to the
Great Lakes Loons of the
Single–A Midwest League for 2013. He hit .309 with 12
home runs and 57
runs batted in (RBI) in 74 games for Great Lakes and was promoted on August 3 to the
Rancho Cucamonga Quakes of the
High–A California League. In 27 games at the new level, he hit just .160. Seager played for the
Glendale Desert Dogs in the
Arizona Fall League after the 2013 regular season, and was selected to play in the AFL Fall Stars Game. in 2015 In 2014, Seager hit .352 with 18 home runs and 70 RBI for the Quakes and was selected to the mid-season California League All-Star team. He played for the USA team at the 2014
All-Star Futures Game. After the Futures Game, Seager was promoted to the
Chattanooga Lookouts of the
Double–A Southern League. With the Lookouts, he played in 38 games and hit .345. He was also selected to
Baseball Americas minor league All-Star team. On September 26, the Dodgers announced that Seager was the co-winner, along with
Joc Pederson, of the organization's "Minor League Player of the Year" award. He returned to the Desert Dogs in the AFL after the season and was awarded a spot on the AFL Top Prospects List. Seager received a non-roster invite to the Dodgers major league spring training in 2015. MLB.com ranked him the 7th-best prospect in baseball going into the 2015 season, and
Baseball America named him the #5 prospect in 2015. The Dodgers assigned Seager to their new Double–A affiliate, the
Tulsa Drillers of the
Texas League, to start the 2015 season. In 20 games with the Drillers, Seager hit .375 with five homers and 15 RBI. On May 1, 2015, Seager was promoted to the
Oklahoma City Dodgers of the
Triple–A Pacific Coast League (PCL). In a game on May 28 against the
Salt Lake Bees, Seager had six hits in six at-bats, including a home run, and six RBI. He was the second player in the history of the Oklahoma City franchise to record six hits in one game. He was selected to the mid-season PCL All-Star team. In 104 games for Oklahoma City, Seager hit .276 with 13 homers and 59 RBI. and named him a Triple–A All-Star and the Triple–A Player of the Year.
Los Angeles Dodgers (2015–2021) 2015: September call-up On September 3, 2015, the
Dodgers called Seager up to the majors, and he made his debut that night as the starting shortstop against the
San Diego Padres. He had two hits in four at-bats with two RBI in his debut, with his first MLB hit being a double to right field off of
Colin Rea of the Padres. On September 12, 2015, against the
Arizona Diamondbacks, Seager was 4-for-4 with his first MLB home run (off
Josh Collmenter), a walk and a stolen base, making him the third-youngest player in history to accomplish that feat (after
Ken Griffey Jr. and
Orlando Cepeda). On September 21, Seager passed
Bill Russell by reaching base safely in his first 16 major league starts, a new Dodger record. He hit .337 in 27 games with the Dodgers, with four homers and 17 RBI, supplanting
Jimmy Rollins as the Dodgers starting shortstop down the stretch. He was the starting shortstop for the Dodgers in the first game of the
2015 National League Division Series, making him the youngest position player to start a postseason game in franchise history.
2016: Rookie of the year on September 13, 2016. Seager was the
Dodgers'
Opening Day starting shortstop in 2016, the youngest for the Dodgers since
Gene Mauch in
1944. On June 3, Seager hit three home runs in a game against the
Atlanta Braves. He was the first Dodgers shortstop to do so since
Kevin Elster in
2000, the youngest shortstop in major league history to accomplish that feat, and the sixth youngest player overall. Seager was named the
National League Rookie of the Month for June and was selected to play on the National League
All-Star team. He also participated in the
Home Run Derby and hit 15 homers, the second best total for a Dodgers player in Derby history, though he failed to advance past the first round. On August 6, 2016, Seager hit his 31st double of the season, surpassing
Eric Karros to set a new Dodgers rookie record, and two days later, he hit his 20th home run of the season, surpassing
Hanley Ramírez for sole possession of the Los Angeles Dodgers record for home runs in a season by a shortstop. He hit his 22nd homer on August 22, tying
Glenn Wright for the franchise record. On August 27, he passed Wright to take sole possession of the record, with a first inning homer off of
Jason Hammel of the
Chicago Cubs. He and his brother,
Kyle Seager, became the first pair of brothers in major league history to each hit 25 or more homers in the same season. With two hits on September 17, Seager moved past
Steve Sax (
1982) for the most hits in a season by a Los Angeles Dodgers rookie. On September 20, he became the first Dodgers rookie to hit 40 doubles in a season. He finished his rookie season with a .308 batting average, 26 home runs, and 72 RBI in 157 games.
Baseball America selected him as their 2016
Rookie of the Year, as did
The Sporting News and the
Players Choice Awards. Seager homered in the first inning of Game 1 of the
2016 National League Division Series against the
Washington Nationals, becoming the youngest Dodgers player in history to hit a postseason home run. He hit .130 with two home runs in the Division Series and .286 with no homers in the
Championship Series. He was also the unanimous winner of the
National League Rookie of the Year Award and the 2016
Esurance MLB/
This Year in Baseball Award winner as Best Rookie.
2017: Second all-star appearance Following his Rookie of the Year campaign, Seager was considered one of the faces of the "new golden age" of shortstops along with
Francisco Lindor and
Trevor Story, as the careers of older shortstops such as
Derek Jeter,
Alex Rodriguez, and
Nomar Garciaparra had concluded. On June 20, 2017, Seager had his second career three-home run game, against the New York Mets. He batted .295/.375/.479 with 22 home runs, and won his second consecutive Silver Slugger Award, the first Dodgers player to win back-to-back awards since
Mike Piazza won five straight from 1993 to 1997. He was bothered at the end of the season by a sore elbow, which reduced his playing time and effectiveness in September. A back injury suffered in the third game of the
2017 NLDS kept Seager off of the Dodgers roster for the
2017 NLCS. However, he returned to the roster for the
2017 World Series. He had six hits in 27 at-bats, including a home run and a double in the World Series, but the Dodgers lost the series in seven games to the
Houston Astros. He was 27-for-101 (.267) with two home runs and 13 RBIs in the 26 games he played.
2019 Seager was eligible for arbitration for the first time during the 2018–2019 offseason. He agreed to a one-year deal with the Dodgers for $4 million. On June 11, Seager strained his left hamstring while baserunning and was placed on the 10-day injured list retroactive to the following day. An
MRI exam confirmed the diagnosis of Grade 1 to Grade 2 strain. Prior to the injury, Seager had been hitting .459 during his last 37 at-bats (17 hits, including 7 doubles). He was activated from the injured list on July 10, and two days later began the second half of the season batting at the top of the order against the Red Sox. Seager finished the regular season batting .272/.335/.483 with 19 home runs, and despite missing one month of play, he set new career highs with 44 doubles (tied for the NL lead) and 87 RBIs. On August 17, Corey faced his brother, Mariners third baseman
Kyle Seager, for the first time in an MLB game and both homered in the game, becoming the first pair of brothers to homer in the same game since
César and
Felipe Crespo did so on June 7, 2001. The emotions of and background leading up to the Seager brothers' August 17 encounter was published in a mini-documentary on the Dodgers' official YouTube channel. Seager completed the 2020 regular season having played in 51 of 60 games and hit .307/.358/.585. Among all qualified hitters on the Dodgers, he led the team in batting average, slugging percentage, hits (65), doubles (12), and RBIs (41). Seager attributed much of his hitting success during the season to being fully healthy, as partly evidenced by his career-best Statcast average
exit velocity. On defense, he had the highest fielding percentage among major league shortstops, at .952. Seager was named
MVP of the
2020 National League Championship Series, and was then named
MVP of the
2020 World Series, while leading the Dodgers to their first championship since 1988. Between the NLCS and the World Series, Seager hit .347/.439/.816 with 7 home runs and 16 RBIs. Seager fractured his right hand when he was hit by a pitch by
Ross Detwiler of the
Miami Marlins on May 15. On September 26, 2021, Seager hit his 100th career home run off of
Humberto Mejía of the Arizona Diamondbacks. For the season he hit .306 with 16 homers and 57 RBIs. The contract was the largest in Rangers franchise history, surpassing
Alex Rodriguez's record $252 million deal set in 2000. In 2022, Seager batted .245/.317/.455 and had the lowest called-strike percentage of all major league batters (9.0%). Although his batting average was a career low .245, he did hit a career-high 33 home runs.
2023: Postseason run and second World Series MVP In 2023, Seager batted .327/.390/.623 with 33 home runs and a career-high 96 RBI, leading the AL in doubles (42) and percentage of balls hard-hit (48.4%). He was named to the All-Star team for the second straight year. He finished second in AL MVP Voting, behind Shohei Ohtani, and with his teammate
Marcus Semien finishing third. In the
2023 World Series, Seager hit .286 with three home runs and six RBI to help the Rangers defeat the
Arizona Diamondbacks in five games. He became the fourth player in history to win the
World Series MVP award twice, joined
Reggie Jackson as both the second position player and the second player to do so with two different teams, and became the first to win the award in both the American League and the National League.
2024 On August 29, Seager recorded his 200th career home run, against the
Chicago White Sox. He became the first purely left-handed-hitting shortstop in Major League history to reach this milestone and the 15th shortstop overall. On September 4, Seager was placed on the injured list due to right hip discomfort which was revealed as a sports hernia on his right side, and due to the injury, he would miss the remainder of the 2024 season. In 123 games, Seager hit .278/.353/.512 with 30 home runs and 74 RBI in 2024.
2025 In 102 games, Seager batted .271/.373/.487 with 21 home runs and 50 RBI in 2025. ==Personal life==