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Dodgers minor league shortstop Corey Seager, arguably the club's top prospect, is about to have a new home. The 6'4" shortstop, drafted by the Dodgers in the first round of the 2012 draft, has been promoted to advanced Class-A Rancho Cucamonga.
Seager was ranked No. 16 in MLB by Keith Law of ESPN in his midseason prospect rankings, ranked No. 35 by Jason Parks of Baseball Prospectus, and ranked No. 37 by John Sickels at Minor League Ball.
Great Lakes Loons hitting coach Mike Eylward had nothing but praise for the 19-year-old, per Hugh Berneuter of Mlive.com:
"He'll always hit," (Loons hitting coach Mike) Eylward said. "That's not going to be a problem as he moves up. He's gotten better throughout the season, and that's a testament to the work he's put in. Corey has learned to make adjustments, learning to adjust to what the other guys are doing to get him out."
"He will get every chance to play shortstop with the Dodgers," Eylward said. "When you get a player like Corey, you want him to be able to play shortstop because of his offensive abilities.
At 18 last year in rookie league Ogden, Seager hit .309/.383/.520. At 19 this season with Class-A Great Lakers, Seager is hitting .309/.389/.529.
Since the beginning of July Seager has been even better, hitting .333/.434/.588 with five home runs and 11 doubles in 28 games. The Loons were postponed on Friday night due to weather.
As pointed out by Andrew Grant of Minor League Central, at just over 19 years, three months old Seager will be the youngest player in high Class-A. To put Seager's promotion in perspective, Matt Kemp played 11 games at advanced Class-A Vero Beach in his age-19 season in 2004, and then had his breakout season at age 20 at Vero Beach in 2005, hitting .306/.349/.519 with 27 home runs in 109 games. Kemp was in the major leagues by May of his age-21 season in 2006.
In a corresponding move, shortstop Brandon Trinkwon, the Dodgers' seventh round pick this season out of UC Santa Barbara, was promoted from rookie level Ogden to Great Lakes to take Seager's place.