Yankees: Ranking The Top 5 Free Agent Shortstops

#2- Corey Seager

The man who has been eyed for Yankee fan for years, Corey Seager, finally hits the free agent market. Seager has been the shortstop for the Los Angeles Dodgers for the last few seasons, and has emerged as one of the elite shortstops in baseball.

2021 was a bit of a down year for Seager if you would say. He only played 95 games as he dealt with injury for a good portion of the year. That does not take away his ability to perform at a high level.

In 2021 there was a limited sample size as I mentioned earlier, but Seager batted .306, hit 16 homers, accumulated 57 RBI’s, had an OPS of .915 and a wRC+ of 133. Seager can get it done on offense, but he is not much of a power hitter. Adding a left handed bat with a high OPS can benefit the Yankees in various ways.

Seager also is in top precentiles for max exit velo, HardHit%, xwOBA, xBA, and xSLG. Something to watch for though is he is in the 79th percentile for K%, which means he does not strike out all that often.

The one cause for concern with Seager is his defense. Since the 2018 season, Seager has had -1, -1, -2, and 0 DRS. He has not recorded a positive DRS rating since 2017. Seager also had a -3.4 UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating) in 2021 which ranked him lower on the totem pole of MLB shortstops.

The Yankees need to bolden their defense in 2021 as it was absolutley dismal last season, and Seager really doesn’t bring that defensive aspect the Yankees need.

Seager would be a fine addition due to his offense. He is a left handed bat. The Yankees need more structure in the lineup instead of being so right handed heavy. Adding Seager into the mix helps resolve that problem. He is not the biggest power bat out there as he is more of a contact hitter that gets on base a lot, as his .905 OPS indicates.

But his defense is quite concerning. New York must address their infield defensivley and offensivley, and Seager is a lot better offensively than defensivley. The Yankees need a perfectly balanced shorstop that does both. Which leads us to our final candidate.