Two former Los Angeles Dodgers players, Corey Seager and Joc Pederson, are returning to Dodger Stadium as teammates, though this time in a different shade of blue.
Seager, after mesmerizing fans with his sweet swing, left the Dodgers for the Texas Rangers in free agency in 2021, going on to win another World Series.
Pederson, for his part, left in the same year as a free agent, inking a deal with the Chicago Cubs as a free agent before being traded to the Atlanta Braves in the middle of the 2021 season.
After a rough 2020 with the Dodgers and 2021 with his two new teams, the San Francisco Giants ended up giving Pederson a chance, and he responded with an All-Star-worthy season.
He then inked another one-year deal with the Giants, with a raise, before moving on to the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2024 on another single-season deal.
His second year with the Giants was a step back for Pederson, but 2024 with Arizona was a major step forward, giving him his first multi-year deal with the Texas Rangers.
2025 was a horrid year for Pederson as a hitter, continuing his inconsistency from year to year.
Seager and Pederson’s 2026 seasons thus far
Seager has been much more consistent in his career since leaving the Dodgers, with health being the only true roadblock that he has faced.
To start the season off, Seager continues to use his swing to great effect. He is hitting .238/.333/.452 with three home runs and seven RBIs entering the series against the Dodgers.
Despite now being in his early 30s, Seager still plays shortstop, a demanding position. He has racked up 0.5 fWAR on the year in just 12 games, with hitting metrics showing that he is still an elite hitter.
Pederson, on the other hand, is still struggling as a Ranger. He is hitting .120/.207/.280 with a 42 wRC+, and his production is below replacement level at -0.2 fWAR.
His biggest issue remains getting his bat on the ball. He is 95th percentile in average exit velocity and 98th percentile in hard hit rate, but he is not making quality, competitive contact regularly.
He is in the fourth percentile in expected wOBA, 1st percentile in expected batting average, and 5th percentile in expected slugging percentage.
On the whole, Pederson can make mistakes even when he makes the right read on pitches, but there needs to be a change in his approach and eye to achieve better, more consistent results.
Seager and Pederson will face off against three right-handed starters, which will give them an advantage against their former team.
While well removed from the current version of the Dodgers, Seager and Pederson symbolize a triumph for the farm system: two players whom the president of baseball operations, Andrew Friedman, held onto rather than trading as prospects, and who went on to deliver memorable moments for fans.
