LoonsNest: Family Like a Rock for Seager
MIDLAND, Mich. - Corey Seager has a lot going for him. At just 19 years old and loaded with baseball talent, the sky is the limit for the native of Kannapolis, N.C. The Los Angeles Dodgers selected Seager with the 18th overall pick in the MLB amateur draft around this time last year and he could very well be playing his home games at Dodger Stadium, instead of Dow Diamond, within a relatively short period of time.
Seager, a 6-foot-4, 215-pound shortstop, started his professional career last summer in Ogden after the draft and began his first full season in the professional ranks this April with the Great Lakes Loons in Midland and is adjusting well.
"It's not bad to be able to wake up every day to come and play baseball," Seager said. "But other than that, you just have to work through the little stuff and daily grind to try and win games for your team."
Seager comes from a family that is as athletic as they come. His dad, Jeff Seager, played college baseball at Fairleigh Dickinson in New Jersey and his mom, Jody Seager, was a three-sport high school athlete. Corey is the youngest of three brothers. The oldest is Kyle, who played at North Carolina. Now he starts at third base and hits third in the batting order for the Seattle Mariners. The middle brother is Justin, who is a junior at UNC-Charlotte that plays corner infield and outfield. He was the Atlantic 10 Conference Co-Player of the Year this spring.
"They've really helped prepare me," Corey said. "I talk to my oldest brother just about every day since we have the same schedule, so it's easier to talk to him. I talk to my middle brother as much as I can. They helped me because I got rundown a little bit (at the start). It was good playing against them when I was younger because it helped me mature as a player."
Along with his brothers, Seager lists his biggest baseball influences as his dad and his high school coach, Joe Hubbard, the head coach at Northwest Cabarrus HS in Concord, N.C. Seager and his brothers all played for Hubbard. He added that his parents created an atmosphere that helped succeed both athletically and academically.
"Because he played ball, my dad was a tremendous help for me being a baseball player," Seager said. "But they were both big on school. If I didn't do well in class, they wouldn't let me play. It was a good environment and they were very positive."
The Northwest Cabarrus Trojans went 39-12 over Seager's last two seasons. Seager, who was committed to perennial college baseball powerhouse South Carolina, also played high-level travel baseball when the Trojans were not in season.
"I was able to play against the best kids that were my age," Seager said. "The cool thing is you see a lot of them in this league and you recognize a lot of faces. It just really helped prepare me for the level of competition."
Seager was also able to play for the USA Baseball 16U baseball team in 2010, bringing home a gold medal 2010 COPABE "AA" Pan-American Championships.
"It was a lot of fun," Seager exclaimed. "We got the chance to play Mexico and it was just another opportunity to see some good competition and to just see players from different countries."
After an impressive high school career, Seager was drafted by the Dodgers in the first round in 2012. Even though both of his brothers played college baseball, he said that the decision of whether to play college or professional ball was easy.
"I got picked by a great organization and they made the transition easy," Seager said. "It was a good fit for me and I saw that, so that's why I made the decision to sign."
Even though his post-draft decision was an easy one, it didn't change his anxiety levels in the days leading up to the draft.
"I didn't talk to anybody for three days before the draft," Seager said. "I just let it all go and had my parents deal with most of it. It was nerve-racking, but exciting at the same time. It's a different feeling when your name is actually called on that screen. It's really exciting and it's one of those experiences you need to have to know what's it's really like."
The North Carolina native has not given much thought as to when he might reach the ultimate goal of playing in the Major League, trying to live in the moment as much as he possibly can, adding that Midland and Dow Diamond make it easy to come to the park every day.
"This is a great place to play, it's a nice complex and everyone is really nice," Seager said. "It's easy to come to the park when you have a nice one. It's a nice small town and I don't mind that at all."
Seager, who was a good high school basketball player, is also a huge country music fan and can often be found in his corner of the locker-room with country music blaring. Seager has a Luke Bryan song for his walkup music at Dow Diamond, but added that Eric Church, the last concert he attended, is his favorite artist.
"(Tyler) Ogle is a good country guy, but there's not many. They play the same rap songs every day and that gets kind of old," Seager joked. "I have some speakers in my locker, so we get in our corner and listen."
This feature ran in the June issue of LoonsNest: The Official Magazine of the Great Lakes Loons (Volume 7, Issue 2). Pick up the August issue of the LoonsNest (Volume 7, Issue 3) at Loons home games throughout the rest of the 2013 season.
Orioles' Honeycutt joins The Show Before the Show
Check out the latest episodes of The Show Before the Show, MiLB.com's official podcast. A segment rundown is listed below, in case you want to skip to a particular section. Like the podcast? Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts. The podcast is also available via Spotify, Megaphone and other
Red Sox prospect rips double THROUGH Fenway-esque scoreboard
Red Sox No. 4 prospect Franklin Arias, an infielder for High-A Greenville, REALLY didn’t want to let visiting Asheville score any runs in the top of the eighth inning on Friday night. With runners on first and second base in the bottom of the fourth, Arias showed he apparently held
April's hottest hitting prospects -- one for each organization
The Minor League season is a month old and several of the game's best hitting prospects are off to fast starts. Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony is tearing up Triple-A (just like he did at the end of last year), Padres shortstop Leo De Vries is leading the High-A Midwest
Check out the best -- and wackiest -- Minor League promos happening in May
Benjamin Hill travels the nation collecting stories about what makes Minor League Baseball unique. This excerpt from the Baseball Traveler newsletter, presented by Circle K, is a mere taste of the smorgasbord of delights he offers every week. Read the full newsletter here, and subscribe to his newsletter here.
MiLB podcast coming LIVE to a Somerset this June
Check out the latest episodes of The Show Before the Show, MiLB.com's official podcast. A segment rundown is listed below, in case you want to skip to a particular section. Like the podcast? Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts. The podcast is also available via Spotify, Megaphone and other
New ballparks highlight 2025 MiLB road trip stops
Benjamin Hill travels the nation collecting stories about what makes Minor League Baseball unique. This excerpt from the Baseball Traveler newsletter, presented by Circle K, is a mere taste of the smorgasbord of delights he offers every week. Read the full newsletter here, and subscribe to his newsletter here.
Minor League Baseball partners with TruGreen
FRANKLIN, Tenn. -- TruGreen, the nation's leading lawn care treatment provider, is proud to announce a groundbreaking partnership with Minor League Baseball that includes activations across all 120 clubs, a makeover of the home dugout in each market, sponsorship of select MiLB team grounds crews, and a new initiative called
Podcast explains why the Syracuse Mets are looking for Jim Morrison
Check out the latest episodes of The Show Before the Show, MiLB.com's official podcast. A segment rundown is listed below, in case you want to skip to a particular section. Like the podcast? Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts. The podcast is also available via Spotify, Megaphone and other
Dash im-prom-tu promo and Mets' Suero joins the podcast
Check out the latest episodes of The Show Before the Show, MiLB.com's official podcast. A segment rundown is listed below, in case you want to skip to a particular section. Like the podcast? Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts. The podcast is also available via Spotify, Megaphone and other
Minor League Baseball partners with Circle K
Minor League Baseball announced a new national partnership with Circle K, which will see the convenience store giant become the “Official Convenience Store of Minor League Baseball.” During the 2025 season, the Circle K brand will be integrated into the MiLB in-stadium experience through in-game video board assets at most
These 15 moments led to season No. 15 of Minor League road trips
Benjamin Hill travels the nation collecting stories about what makes Minor League Baseball unique. This excerpt from his newsletter is a mere taste of the smorgasbord of delights he offers every week. Read the full newsletter here, and subscribe to his newsletter here.
MiLB podcast crew makes Opening Day predictions
Check out the latest episodes of The Show Before the Show, MiLB.com's official podcast. A segment rundown is listed below, in case you want to skip to a particular section. Like the podcast? Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts. The podcast is also available via Spotify, Megaphone and other
Everything you need to know for Triple-A Opening Day
First, there was big league Opening Day. Now it's Triple-A's turn to take the spotlight. The Minor League season opens Friday when the Triple-A International League and Pacific Coast League seasons get underway for the first of MiLB’s two Opening Days. And right out of the gates, several of baseball's
Top prospects to watch at Triple-A -- one for each organization
It’s Triple-A’s turn up to bat on Friday. The regular season begins for the Minor Leagues’ highest level one day after the action starts on the Major League side. Fun fact: it’ll be the earliest start to a Minor League season since 1951 (March 27). Double-A, High-A and Single-A will
Here's where every Top 100 prospect is expected to start the season
The 2025 Opening Day prospect roster announcements began last week when the Cubs informed Matt Shaw (MLB No. 19) he was making the trip overseas to compete in the Tokyo Series. Roki Sasaki (No. 1) also received the good news, but his assignment was much less of a surprise. Now
Nationals prospect King joins MiLB podcast
Check out the latest episodes of The Show Before the Show, MiLB.com's official podcast. A segment rundown is listed below, in case you want to skip to a particular section. Like the podcast? Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts. The podcast is also available via Spotify, Megaphone and other
Here are the 2025 All-Spring Breakout Teams
Fifteen games, several jersey swaps and countless highlights later, the second edition of Spring Breakout has officially concluded – and it lived up to its billing. Of the 16 contests sprinkled across four days, only one game (Dodgers vs. Cubs) was rained out. Coincidentally, the Cubs were one of two
Rox young sluggers aim to bring pop back to Coors Field
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Coors Field may provide the best run-scoring environment in Major League Baseball, but the Rockies haven’t taken advantage of it in recent years. Even without adjusting for Coors, they have fielded offenses worse than the league average the past three seasons, and they scored the fewest runs
Astros brass sees potential in consistently 'underranked' farm system
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- The last time the Astros landed in the top 10 of MLB Pipeline’s farm system rankings was before the 2019 season. Since those rankings expanded to all 30 teams ahead of the 2020 season -- 11 lists in total -- they’ve never ranked higher than
Complete results and highlights from Spring Breakout
The second edition of MLB Spring Breakout is complete, and there was no shortage of highlights from the future stars of Major League Baseball over the four-day showcase. Here's a complete breakdown of the 16-game exhibition:
Southpaw Spring Breakout: White Sox future on display with Schultz, Smith
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- If all goes as planned for the White Sox, left-handers Hagen Smith and Noah Schultz won’t spend much time following each other to the mound in a single game. Schultz, the No. 1 White Sox prospect and No. 16 overall, per MLB Pipeline, and Smith, who is
In first pro game, Rainer offers pop, promise to Tigers fans
NORTH PORT, Fla. -- Bryce Rainer’s pro career consisted of workouts and batting practice until Sunday.
'Me and Brady on the dirt again': House, King reunite at Spring Breakout
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- The 2025 Spring Breakout was a flashback for Brady House and Seaver King. Over 10 years ago, the infielders were travel ball teammates in Georgia who shared the dream of making it to the Major Leagues. Now, they are top prospects in the same organization,
Lambert -- 'an adrenaline guy' -- hoping to be next Mets bullpen gem
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Ryan Lambert loves throwing hard. He relishes the idea of getting to two strikes and blowing hitters away. “Get me in a game,” Lambert said, “cool things will happen.”
Stewart embraces Spring Breakout: 'What's not to love?'
PHOENIX -- Sal Stewart was one fired-up Reds prospect. On Sunday in the first inning during the organization's 9-7 Spring Breakout win over Brewers prospects, Stewart lifted a 2-2 pitch that sailed over the center fielder's head to the wall. Already not known as a speedster, he stumbled running between