No. 8: Corey Seager – 2016 Los Angeles Dodgers
It feels like Corey Seager is a 10-year MLB veteran but he played his first full season in 2016, where he went on to win ROY. Seager had an impressive .308 batting average, a .512 slugging percentage, a 134 OPS+, 26 home runs, and 72 RBIs. During his rookie season with the Dodgers, Seager was an All-Star, a Silver Slugger, and finished third in MVP voting.
The 6’4″ shortstop also had an impressive 5.2 wins above replacement in 2016. Seager has been a Dodgers player since being drafted and has been a franchise player. Seager’s numbers are not as eye-popping as some of the players that were ranked higher, which led him to be ranked in the bottom half of my list. But he definitely deserves to be on this list, especially with his above-average defense which can be hard to quantify.
After his rookie season, Seager almost repeated his 2016 season the following year as a 23-year-old and made his second All-Star team. Corey’s career hit a road bump between 2017 and 2018 after requiring Tommy John surgery. But he came back and found his rookie form and has played exceptionally well the past two seasons.
Corey Seager was integral to the Dodgers 2020 World Series title. He was named the 2020 NLCS MVP and WS MVP. Seager is still 26-years-old and will continue to man shortstop for Los Angeles as they try to defend its title.