Chris Woodward: The future is bright for the Dodger infield
By Cary Osborne
Corey Seager isn’t just exceptional at the plate, he’s a freak at the shortstop position because of his advanced ability to process information.
Justin Turner doesn’t get his just due for his work at third base.
Adrián González does so many little-known and underappreciated things on a baseball field.
Top Dodger prospect Cody Bellinger has the potential to be an elite defensive first baseman, and highly rated second-base prospect Willie Calhoun’s level of dedication is impressive.
Dodger third base/infield coach Chris Woodward holds all these things to be true. And his thoughts on all these players present an exciting 2017 and beyond for the Dodgers infield — despite the current uncertainty at second base.
The conversation started this year where it began a year ago when we first spoke to him — with Seager.
From 2013–15, Woodward was on the Seattle Mariners coaching staff, where he worked extensively with Corey’s older brother, third baseman Kyle Seager. Woodward had a lot of information coming into the Dodger organization on Corey from Kyle — but seeing the 2016 National League Rookie of the Year firsthand and on a regular basis was a revelation.
“I guess since he’s such a big guy, I didn’t realize he’d be as mobile as he was going to be,” Woodward said. “I just thought since he was big, I was going to have to work around some footwork issues, just kind of the long-legged, big-foot (stuff). I didn’t expect him to pick things up and be as coachable from a physical standpoint as he was. He was able to do things like a typical shortstop, a shortstop like myself — a normal-sized guy (Woodward, a former 12-season big leaguer is 6 feet tall) — would be able to do, and he did.
“He picked things up fast. He was a super-quick learner. From a mental standpoint, I was pleasantly surprised how he was able to see the game. Being so young, you’re not always sure how much they’re going to be able to retain and from game to game how in tune they’re going to be with the game as innings go by. As the season went on, he got better and made my job easier because I didn’t have to overwhelm him with information, because he absorbs so much and carries it over from game to game to game. … I’ve never seen a kid that young be able to take on that much.”
What might come as a revelation to others was how drained Seager was at times near the end of the season.
“With his work, you would see he’d get frustrated because there’d be certain days during the end of the year where it would be, ‘I’ve got nothing,’ ” Woodward said. “He didn’t have his legs and it was hard for him.”
From August 24 until October 2, Seager hit .250 with a .718 OPS. He had a .957 fielding percentage in the same time frame. Prior to that, his fielding percentage was .971.
Seager played the third-most innings at shortstop in the NL. Including Spring Training and the postseason, Seager appeared in 176 games in 2016. Woodward said the Dodger coaching staff was extremely mindful of Seager’s work prior to games, and thus reduced his pregame workload as the season wore on. But at the same time, Woodward had to find a balance of challenging the young shortstop with hard work to ensure that he didn’t pick up bad habits that would linger into games.
“That was a big learning experience for him,” Woodward said on handling fatigue. “I think the offseason program will be dedicated to (combating) that. I don’t want him to feel that way again.”
One area where Woodward knows where Seager will get better is anticipation. Seager improved as the year went along in shifting his body — ever so slightly as to not give away the pitch — based off of pitch location and type. Woodward said many shortstops don’t expend the energy in focusing on every pitch and rely more on reaction. But Seager takes a lot of pride in thinking ahead of the play, which in turn puts him in a more advantageous position to make a play.
Like Seager, Turner also had to fight through fatigue in 2016. He appeared in a career-high 151 regular season games, and remember, he was coming off offseason left knee surgery.
But the now 32-year-old third baseman had an outstanding season at third base. Turner was a finalist for a Rawlings Gold Glove. He finished first in the N.L. in total defense for third basemen.
“It was pretty fun to watch. He did it all,” Woodward said of Turner. “He worked his butt off in Spring Training to get ready. We had to kind of be careful because he was coming off knee surgery, but he worked his tail off. He wants to get better every day. He should have gotten more credit (for his defense in 2016). I think he got some credit, but if he continues to play that way he’ll get more credit in the future.”
Woodward said the things that set him apart from other third basemen are his athleticism and diverse ability at the hot corner. Turner also became a better thrower in 2016 after coming to Spring Training last year committed to getting better in that area. Woodward’s contribution was to get Turner incorporate his legs more into his throw.
Turner did improve last season. He made three throwing errors in 243 chances in 2016 (or 1.2 percent of the time) compared to four in 179 chances in 2015 (2.2 percent).
As for González, Woodward said he learned a lot from the veteran first baseman. There was so much trust from the coaching staff in González that he would often make his own calls. Woodward particularly points out to pickoffs and how González would take a leading role. In 2015, the Dodgers led baseball in pickoffs and were third in 2016. González, Woodward said, deserves a lot of the credit.
Woodward also marvels at González’s creativity and smarts — saying González would come up with new ways to defend against the bunt.
“His knowledge of the game and his awareness blew me away at times,” Woodward said. “He’d come up to me and have these crazy ideas, and they’re smart. I told him, ‘If I could get everyone to think like you, we’d do (these plays). But you’re the only one who could pull it off.”
González is a four-time Gold Glove winner, and Woodward thinks Bellinger could potentially win his own awards down the line.
Woodward said he was highly impressed by what he saw from the 21-year-old last Spring Training, and he has gotten the opportunity to speak to him this offseason — being that the two both live in the same Arizona city.
“I can honestly say this — he’s Gold-Glove caliber,” Woodward said. “He has a really slow heart rate when it comes to playing the position. He has really soft hands and has got a good throwing arm. Left-handed, he has all the attributes, can really pick the ball. He’s got an effortless way about the way he fields, and the throwing arm is pretty cool because you just don’t see too many first basemen with that kind of arm. He’s pretty accurate — has a lower slot, so he can get rid of it quickly. It doesn’t come up very often in games, but it’s a huge plus when you have that for a 3–6–1 or 3–6–3 double play.”
Fellow prospect Calhoun recently reached out to Woodward and asked to work with him at Camelback Ranch prior to the Spring Training.
“He’s getting in before Spring Training in mid-January,” Woodward said. “He’s reached out to me to get out there early and get stuff done with me personally.
“He sees what’s going on, and he wants to be the guy. I said I’d obviously be happy to be there and work with him.”
