Kyle Seager

Kyle Duerr Seager (born November 3, 1987) is an American professional baseball third baseman with the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball (MLB). He was selected by the Mariners in the third round of the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft.

His brother Corey was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first round of the 2012 Draft, while brother Justin was selected by the Mariners in 2013.^[1]

High school and college career

Seager attended Northwest Cabarrus High School in Concord, North Carolina where he earned Co-North Carolina Player of the Year honors.^[2]

Seager elected to stay in-state, playing college baseball at the University of North Carolina, where he had a career .353 batting average with 17 home runs, 66 doubles and 167 RBI. In 2008, he set a school record for doubles in a season (30),^[3] was a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award, and was named to the watch list for both the Dick Howser Trophy and the Brooks Wallace Award.

During the summer of 2008, Seager played for the Chatham A's in the Cape Cod Baseball League.

Seager has two younger siblings who also play baseball: Corey Seager, who plays for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Justin Seager, who primarily plays first and third base in the minor league system for the Seattle Mariners.

Professional career

Minor Leagues

Seager spent the majority of the 2009 season with the Class-A Clinton LumberKings. He hit .275 with a home run and 22 RBI. He also played one game with the AZL Mariners and two with the Class-A Advanced High Desert Mavericks. Seager spent the entire 2010 season with the High Desert Mavericks, batting .345 with 14 home runs and 74 RBI.

He was ranked by Baseball America as the ninth best prospect in the Mariners organization for 2011.^[4] He split the season between the Double-A Jackson Generals, batting .312 with 4 home runs and 37 RBI in 66 games, and the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers, where he hit .387 with 3 home runs and 17 RBI in 24 games.

Seattle Mariners

On July 6, 2011, Seager had his contract purchased by the Mariners.^[5] He hit his first Major League home run on August 19, 2011 against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field, and finished the year with a .258 batting average, 3 home runs and 13 RBI in 53 games.

In 2012, his first full MLB season, Seager hit .259 with 20 home runs and 86 RBI in 155 games.

On June 5, 2013, Seager hit a grand slam against the Chicago White Sox in the 14th inning. It was the first time in MLB history that a player hit a game-tying grand slam in extra innings.^[6] The Mariners ended up losing the game 7–5 in 16 innings. He finished 2013 with a .260 batting average, 22 home runs and 69 RBI in 160 games.

On April 23, 2014, Seager drove in five runs to avoid a sweep against the Houston Astros. He hit a two-run home run in the seventh inning to cut the Astros lead to 3–2, and hit a walk-off three-run shot in the bottom of the ninth, allowing the Mariners to win 5–3. The first walk-off hit of his career, his performance earned him an April Co-Player of the Week Award, shared with José Abreu of the Chicago White Sox.^[7] On June 2, Seager went 4–4 with a double, two triples and a three-run home run against the New York Yankees. The first Mariner to accomplish the feat, Seager became the first major leaguer to hit two triples and at least one homer and one double in a game since Hal Breeden for Montreal in 1973.^[8] On June 15, Seager went 4–4 with two singles and two doubles and three RBI. It was the fifth time Seager had a four-hit game. On July 7, Seager was named to his first All-Star team as an injury replacement for Toronto Blue Jays player Edwin Encarnacion.^[9] He finished 2014 with a .268 batting average, 25 home runs and 96 RBI in 159 games.

On November 4, 2014, Seager was awarded his first Gold Glove.^[10]

On December 2, 2014, the Mariners finalized a 7-year, $100 million contract extension with Seager.^[11]

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)