AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: RANGERS VS ASTROS

October 18, 2023

Corey Seager

Globe Life Field

Texas Rangers

Pregame 3 Press Conference

Q. Corey, Golden Glove finalist, what does that mean to you, and who has helped you along the way this season defensively?

COREY SEAGER: This season or just in general? Obviously really exciting. I guess anytime you can be considered for any award, it's an accomplishment. Super happy about it. Trying not to focus too much time on it obviously because we're in the playoffs. But really special honor for sure, and it will be something I'll think about later.

Q. On the topic of defense, what have you seen -- how have you seen Nathaniel Lowe take a leap in defense from last year to this year?

COREY SEAGER: Attention to detail is a good word for it. He's out in the spring working on it, footwork, angles, positioning, all comes into play. First base is awkward running away from the ball. For him to be able to know he's going to have to cover more ground and know the lanes that he's going to have to run to first base from, it was a big change for him without the shift. To see him take a lot of pride and put a lot of effort into it was big.

Q. Congratulations. Are you surprised or are your teammates surprised to be in this position to be 2-0 over the Astros, taking two at home from them? And second, is there any improvement for you guys that you see for the first two games that you need to improve to be even more difficult to beat?

COREY SEAGER: Surprised? No. We understand that we're a good team. We've tried to go out and compete all year. And it's just about winning the series now. So we're trying to go out and win two more games. Just keep running good baseball. I think we've done that pretty much all postseason. Just trying not to do too much and continue to play well.

Q. Max's time here hasn't been terribly long, but his reputation around the game and what he's able to do, especially in the postseason, is obvious. You guys are still human. When you have a guy like Max Scherzer with a pedigree like he does going to the mound especially coming back off the injury list, what does that do for you guys internally?

COREY SEAGER: It gives us a big boost, we get one of our guys back. That's a huge thing for us, and especially a guy of his caliber, and what he's capable of doing in the situation we're in. We hope he can go out there and throw the baseball really well and come out with a win.

Q. I am curious about this year, specifically, seems like there's been a pretty marked improvement on your defense from last year to this year. Is there anything specific you worked on or somebody you worked with to make this improvement?

COREY SEAGER: Not so much worked on. You're trying to improve always. I think a little bit of the positioning has helped, you're not as far to the right so the angle is probably just a little better, a little more neutral.

The biggest help in my career was Chris Woodward in LA. Just helped me shorten strides up. I'm a long guy. Was taking too big of strides and getting caught in between on some balls that I shouldn't be. That's always been a big battle for me is to continue to stay basically grounded I guess is the right word.

Q. (Off microphone.)

COREY SEAGER: Yeah, absolutely.

Q. On the note of defense, everybody in the infield, finalist for Golden Gloves, and congratulations on that. What have you seen from Josh, and what are your feelings of him not getting that recognition at third base?

COREY SEAGER: Yeah, you know, honestly for me personally I think he's a little snubbed. I'm sure he isn't going to come out and say that, but he should feel that way. What he's done over there, the guy is a vacuum. Anything that's hit to him, he catches. For my opinion, that's a Golden Glove finalist. Just how well he can play and the ability to catch the baseball is off the charts.

Q. When you have the ability to pick the ball, everything happens so fast, but does that play into your mind as your fielding it, he has the ability to pick it, does that make it easier to play your position?

COREY SEAGER: Yeah, anytime your first baseman helps out, it's huge. You can extend and try and do more things because you have confidence in the guy over there. That's all you want. Nate gives that for our whole infield.

Q. What is it in particular that you like about the hitters background in this ballpark?

COREY SEAGER: I think it's just the space thing. It's really big, it's spacious, it doesn't feel like everybody is on top of you.

Q. When you look at some of the guys in this lineup that were homegrown guys, Evan, Leody and Josh, what do you see, the talent, and how have you seen them develop from the time you've been here?

COREY SEAGER: That's a credit to the organization, A, being able to find the talent, and B, being able to develop it. You need that. You can't go and get everybody off the free agent market, it's just not capable. You've got to find those guys, develop them, and have them succeed and help us at the Big League level.

And I think they've done an excellent job of that, the maturity of the player to be able to handle it all, and then the ability of the organization to turn them into a good player.

Q. As a former shortstop I'm wondering whether or not Semien had conversations with you about playing shortstop and playing good defense in that position?

COREY SEAGER: Yeah, you know, you're always trying to pick people's brains, just in general in how they do things or how they perceive things and thought processes and just everything in general. I think that's just across the infield. I've asked Jung about things, who is at a completely different angle. He's got to attack balls. It's a learning curve for everybody, and you're just always trying to improve.