Seager 1st Dodgers SS to win Silver Slugger

Rookie blasted 26 home runs and finished with an .877 OPS

November 11th, 2016

LOS ANGELES -- 's award-a-day offseason continued on Thursday when he was named winner of the Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger as the National League's best offensive shortstop.
Seager is the first Dodgers shortstop to win the award and third rookie (joining Fernando Valenzuela in 1981 and Mike Piazza in 1993). Seager already has won The Sporting News, Players Choice and Baseball America awards for top NL rookie and was named a finalist for the Baseball Writers' Association of America NL MVP and Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year awards.
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Only 22 years old, Seager's 26 home runs were a Dodgers record for a shortstop, and he set Los Angeles Dodgers rookie marks for hits (193), runs (105) and doubles (40). The 193 hits were the most for a Major League rookie since 2001 ( and ).
The 18th overall pick in the 2012 Draft, Seager was the youngest Dodgers position player named to an NL All-Star team and their first rookie shortstop All-Star since Bill Grabarkewitz in 1970. He is the fifth Los Angeles Dodger with a 25-homer/40-double season and he led Major League rookies in games played, hits, runs, doubles, RBIs, multihit games and walks. He joined with of the Mariners as the first set of brothers with at least 25 homers each in the same season.
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According to Stats, LLC, Seager joined Dusty Baker, Piazza and Pujols as the only rookies in the divisional era (since 1969) to rank in the NL's Top 10 in batting average (.308) and slugging percentage (.512). He was second in the NL overall with 57 multihit games, fourth with 321 total bases and seventh with a .308 average. The Dodgers nominated him for the Hank Aaron Award as their most outstanding offensive performer.
His WAR, as computed by Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference.com, respectively, was 7.5 and 6.12, tops for shortstops in either league.

Speaking to MLB Network, Seager said he came into the season knowing he needed to make an adjustment from a relatively successful September and October in the big leagues in 2015.
"I just shortened up my stance, shortened up my stride, just kind of shortened up everything and made me make better contact in the zone," he said. "I wasn't trying to do too much, wasn't trying to hit the home runs, just make hard contact in the zone."
During the regular season, Seager had four multihomer games, including a three-homer game June 3 against Atlanta. Seager also became the first rookie in big league history to drive in the first run of four games in the same postseason, which included a pair of home runs.
Last year's NL Silver Slugger shortstop was of the Giants.