Mariners Kyle Seager: Can He Improve in 2018?

The Mariners have a good enough offense to compete in 2018. Will Kyle Seager step up his performance or is this all we should expect?

The Seattle Mariners made some impactful trades this offseason. Adding Dee Gordon and Ryon Healy to Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz and Kyle Seager makes for a nice offense to watch. Unfortunately, the latter has not hit as well as we hoped throughout his career. Can he put it together in 2018?

Seager is a career .263 hitter with 25 home runs, 85 RBI and 78 runs scored per season. Last year saw him sacrifice batting average and on-base percentage in favor of some power. Seager finished the season with 27 homers, 88 RBI and a .249 average in a career-low 154 games.

He was a fifth-round pick in standard ESPN leagues based on his performance in 2016. He hit 30 home runs, 99 RBI, 89 runs and .278 in 158 games. That season, when you look at his career, is one big outlier. He hasn’t reached 30 home runs, .275 average or .350 OBP before or since.

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Seager walked just 58 times and struck out 110 times last season. He lowered his ground ball rate and increased his fly ball rate by nine percent but he wasn’t able to translate that into power as his HR/FB rate actually went down three percent between 2016 and 2017.

Seager swung at more strikes, made less contact overall and less contact on pitches in the strike zone. This resulted in the high strikeout rate, low batting average and a No. 30 finish among third basemen on the Player Rater.

FantasyPros has Seager has the No. 80 player overall. His ADP has ranged from 50 to 122, an eight-round difference in standard leagues. I have Seager as my No. 13 third baseman, behind Rafael Devers.

Even with the improved roster, I don’t think anything will change in Seager’s game. He swings at a lot and doesn’t make good contact. He is what he is at this point and should be drafted as such. Seager will hit another 20+ home runs but hit under .270 again. Not sure how much value there is in that.

When looking at players and making projections, I like to look at the trends. For Seager, he is trending in the wrong direction with the high strikeout rate and low batting average. He had the one great season in 2016 but the rest look pedestrian. Do I project another season like that or something along the lines of what we’re used to seeing?

Next: Taijuan Walker 2018 sleeper?

Unfortunately, I have to go with the latter. Expect 27 home runs, 80 RBI and a .262 average over 151 games. You could do worse as your corner infielder or utility hitter but wouldn’t bank on him as your starting third baseman.