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Dodgers: 4 Shortstops Ranked Above Corey Seager as the Best in MLB

Dodgers fans that got to watch Corey Seager in the playoffs this year weren’t even a little surprised. Anyone who has been there since day 1 with Seager knows what he is capable of, and the level that he can play at. The only major difference this year that he was 100 percent healthy and ready to go from the onset of the season. 

All of that culminated in winning the World Series and NLCS MVP in what can only be described as one of the best offensive postseasons we’ve seen in a while. Despite that, there are still experts who don’t quite believe that Seager ranks among the games best. 



ESPN’s Buster Olney recently released his rankings for the best shortstops in baseball, and Dodgers fans probably won’t love it. Seager did finish in the top-5, but he had 4 other guys that ranked ahead of him. Those players were(in order) Francisco Lindor, Fernando Tatis Jr, Trevor Story, and Tim Anderson. 

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Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t meant as any sort of disrespect to any of those guys. After all, each of those 4 shortstops are some of the best players in the game today. But Dodgers fans know that Seager can be one of the best in the game at his position when healthy.

Lindor is perhaps one of the most comparable players for Seager’s talents. Dodgers fans have certainly become familiar with the comparisons as the Lindor to LA rumors spread like wildfire around the internet for the last few years. While Lindor does rank better with the glove, the bats swing more toward Seager. 

Regardless of where he ranks, Seager did make the list. He’ll do his talking on the field in 2021. 

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24 Comments

  1. What were the factors used to make the rankings? It isn’t career WAR as Seager is third in that ranking behind shortstops Lindor and Bogaerts — and his WAR is impacted by missing the 2018 season. It isn’t wRC+ as Seager is the leader at 130 (Lindor is 118). I would not trade Seager even up for Lindor, Story, or Anderson. Tatis has all of the talent to be one of the best of all time, but let’s see how he performs over the next five years. Remember what Adrian Gonzalez said about the rookie Seager — he has the talent to be a Hall of Famer.

    1. You don’t have to have the best at every position, but of those mentioned who was the World Series MVP? That accounts for something. I kinda feel bad for Seager. What does he need to do to get this talk to go away?

  2. I’m OK with the rankings – perhaps it will make it a little easier to extend him.

    1. Exactly! Now that someone “set the rankings and price” for the SS’s, it’s time to settle in and get a long-term deal done…

    2. Exactly my thought. Rankings like this don’t matter. Winning matters. Re-signing Seager will be hard enough with Boras on the other side of the table. Maybe this will make it easier.

  3. The rankings probably do reflect Seager’s injury history, but if he puts together numbers over 162 game season like he did over 60 last year, someone will have to back two brinks trucks up to his door to haul all his money! in that case I don’t think he will give a damn about where he is “ranked.” Boris is probably telling Seager to stay healthy!

    1. Lets be realistic-Seager is the 2nd best shortstop in MLB. Lindor is 1st. Anderson is not even in the conversation-B.A.-sure. Anything else? No. Story and Seager should be flip flopped. If Seager is 2nd, then Story is 3rd. Tatis has played in 142 MLB games-and although he has a slash line of .299/39/100-he has yet to do this in a full season-so I have the ranking at this
      1. Lindor-the defense puts him over Seager, because their offense is roughly the same.
      2. Seager- In a battle for best offensive shortstop in MLB with Lindor and Story.
      3. Story- He might actually be better than Seager offensively, but he has just 2 good seasons. Just below Seager.
      4. Fernando Tatis Jr- Again, in 142 games he is hitting .299/39/100. In 162 games that is .300/45/113. In 1 more year he might be the best offensive shortstop in MLB.
      5. Trea Turner-He’s underrated, competes with Lindor for best defensive shortstop, is a consistent 20 stolen base threat, and puts up above-average offensive numbers.

      1. Over the same period of time (2015 – 2020) Seager has been the better offensive shortstop using wRC+ (weighted runs created) with 130, followed by Correa 127, Bogaerts 119, Trea Turner and Lindor 118 — and that includes Seager missing all of 2018, and injured toward end of 2017. Seager over the same period is second only to Trevor Story in weighted on base average (wBA) .365 to .368 (Lindor .351). Seager also has a better slugging percentage, batted ball in play average. When Lindor and Seager were both healthy (2015 – 2017) Seager was clearly the better offensive player with 135 wRC+ to Lindor’s 116. 2021 – Seager projected to reach 134 wRC+, Lindor 115. Lindor is a terrific player, but writing that their offense is about the same is a false narrative.

    2. I don’t want people to play Seager up too much as we’re trying to re-sign him. But he has the best swing in baseball. He goes the other way. Most of his home runs are left center. His swing is consistent and reproducible because he doesn’t try to do too much with it. It won’t go away from like Bellinger’s swing. Yes, his best years are ahead of him. His overall numbers include a period where he was affected by arm problems before TJ surgery, as well as his recovery when he came back from TJ surgery. And a messed up arm affects hitting as well as throwing. He is totally on track now, with valuable experience added in. He has MVP’s waiting for him. Just don’t tell Boras

  4. They are all pretty good. And before 2020, you could make a case that Seager had slid down the list a bit. But Olney apparently didn;t pay much attention to the Dodgers this year to put Seager behind Anderson and Story. Lindor’s a wash at this point and – as painful as it is to say – Tatis will probably lead these sort of rankings for years.

  5. Rankings or no rankings the focus now is on 2021 and perhaps getting Seager extended in spite of Boras. Remember this too: ‘If ya got one foot in yesterday and one in tomorrow the only place you’re not experiencing is today and that’s where we got to be.’

  6. I won’t get into the who-is-who-is-not… The overriding fact remains that its so incredibly hard to reach the level of play merely to make it to a franchise farm league.. My hat’s off to each and everyone of them..

  7. I won’t get into the who-is-who-is-not… The overriding fact remains that its so incredibly hard to reach the level of play merely to make it to a franchise farm league.. My hat’s off to each and everyone of them.. They’re all winners in my book…

  8. Who has the best World Series resume? That is the most important stat to me. The Dodgers seem to always put a competitive team together to get to the WS, but I want the players who can step up their game when it counts the most.

  9. Seager is so locked in hitting the ball hard and squarely that I look for him to lead all shortstops in offense categories this year. For this reason alone I would take him as the best shortstop in baseball. His defense may be a little less than the other high rated shortstops but his power and offense clearly makes up for it.

  10. How many WS have those guys won recently?
    1A) Corey S; 1B) Trevor S; 3) Fernando T Jr.; 4) Tim A; 5) Francisco L. Hate to burst BO’s bubble, but I suspect that Francisco , much as I like him, will not be the savior the Mets expect him to be.

  11. No WS rings among them, no NLS MVP and no WS MVP. I would take Cory every day and twice on Sunday over those guys! Each those guys dont have the supporting class Cory has…..

  12. They have to be haters! Corey is already the best, forget lindor he needs his steroids.And story plays in a joke of a stadium.And Corey hasn’t hit his ceiling yet that’s the good thing for us dodger fans and scary for the haters!?????

  13. Because he’s a NLCS and WS mvp he should be ranked no 1?! I don’t find seager to be all that exciting actually. He might’ve gone off offensively but his defense is just mediocre. They’re just regular routine plays and there’s more exciting shortstops in mlb than him.

  14. Good arguments all. My issue is with GM’s that think they’re so much smarter than everyone else in the world. Then they ARB their young players as long as they can, only to give them the “big contract” when they’re 30+! The back end of those contracts are brutal! Pay your best players FOR their prime years, not because of their PAST performance DURING their prime years. Extend Seager NOW! Then come back in 2022 and extend Bellinger, Buehler, and Urias…

  15. Might be true but pointless comparison. Also, lets see how Cory does in a second year without injury, he might move up the list 🙂

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