The ESPN the Magazine Story on Corey Seager

We recently mentioned that Corey Seager was on the cover of ESPN The Magazine baseball preview issue; finally giving someone a reason to read that publication.

The story went live on the internet yesterday, and it’s a great read. Here are some highlights below.

HE’S IN HIS third big league spring training, but there are still glimmers of the kid inside. After practice at lunch — mini chicken-bacon-ranch pizza and clam chowder that he washes down with two Mountain Dews — Seager says he’s excited about the sub shop near his place in Arizona. He talks about a great chocolate cake in Oklahoma City and how he got Sandy Koufax’s autograph for his dad. He chews a lot of gum during games, exclusively Big League Chew’s Outta’ Here Original (“the official bubble gum of Ripken Baseball”). He tried Ground Ball Grape once in high school and hit four grounders to the second baseman. “Never again,” he says.

Seager tells a story from late in 2015, when the Dodgers were working to maintain an 8½-game lead over the Giants in the NL West. He committed two errors in one inning behind Kershaw and apologized to the pitcher after the game. “I was so scared,” Seager says. “He’s all, ‘Dude, don’t worry about it,’ and I’m telling him it doesn’t happen, it shouldn’t happen — not to him.” Then there was the time this past fall, after he won the Rookie of the Year in New York, when he wrapped his plaque in his coat and stuffed it into his backpack before getting on the plane. “I was stopped at airport security because it looked suspicious,” he says with a laugh. “I think they thought it was a bomb.” When he got to his town home in North Carolina, Seager couldn’t decide where to display it. He put it on his bedroom floor.

Corey Seager likes Big League Chew, although he doesn’t like Ground ball Grape. He’s just afraid of failing and being terrible and what drives him. What’s not to love about this guy who seemingly doesn’t realize how good he is?