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Kyle Seager combines supreme talent with good old-fashioned

hard work in his ongoing pursuit of excellence.

By Kieran ODwyer

Living theDream

Living theDream

Living theDream

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Beore Mariners games, players takebatting practice, working in groups oour, with each member o the quartetrotating in and out o the cage aterhitting a handul o pitches. Typically,each batter starts o his BP sessionby bunting one ball up the third-baseline and another up the frst-base linebeore taking ull cuts. Just another

one o the games unique traditions.On this particular day, Kyle Seager

is grouped with sluggers Raul Ibaez,Michael Morse and Kendrys Morales.When he gets in the cage, he drops anice bunt toward third base, gets backinto his hitting position, squares tobunt and directs the next pitch towardfrst. Only the ball quickly squirts oul.Clearly this is not acceptable, as Seagerimmediately calls or another pitchand this time lays down a perect buntalong the frst-base line. A seeminglysmall act, perhaps, but somehow alsoquite telling.

Im very impressed with hismaturity as a hitter and a player, saidIbaez. Im really impressed with hiswork ethic, his drive and his determi-nation to succeed.

Quite a glowing assessment, indeed,but Ibaez is hardly alone in recog-nizing these and other attributes thathave helped Seager succeed at thehighest level o the sport.

You saw the same thing with Kyleevery day [in college] and I think that

just earns great respect rom your team-mates, said Mike Fox, coach o theUniversity o North Carolina Tar Heelsbaseball team, where Seager starredrom 2007 through 2009. Alwaysworked, always the frst one out there,always wanted to take ground ballsand hit extra. Always trying to getbetter and improve himsel. Not a loudguy or one o those rah-rah types. Youhear all the time Lead by example. Hewas that and more.

Seagers dedication to his crat hascontinued right on through Seattles

system, rom the day he was selected inthe third round o the 2009 drat to hisMajor League debut on July 7, 2011,to his integral role now as the Mari-ners starting third baseman.

Hes very mature or a youngplayer, said manager Eric Wedge.He knows himsel very well [and] isable to coach himsel well because heunderstands how hes eeling and howthat plays out. Hes very consistentwith his preparation and his work.

DrivenWhen Seager was growing up in

North Carolina, with his parents,Je and Jody, and younger brothersJustin and Corey, he wasnt thebiggest or strongest kid his age.He may well have been the hardestworking, however.

When they were little, they were

at best average in size, recalled Je,reerring to his three sons, all o whomhe coached through Little Leagueand up to high school. The big kidsalways dominated they threw theball harder and hit it a mile. And Ikept telling the boys, Dont worryabout it, youre going to get biggerand stronger.

As a ormer collegiate ballplayer,Je knows the game well and under-stands the dierence that a dedicationto learning the undamentals o thegame, practicing on a consistent basisand time can make. Especially ortalented athletes like his sons.

A lot o these bigger kids aded.They didnt work and eventuallyeverybody either caught up with themin size or got bigger and stronger,too. And because kids like Ky workedhard all along, they went right bythose others.

Seager agreed with his dad. Itskind o weird, I was always smaller,which looking back was probablyan advantage because I had to work

harder and get more precise withwhat I was doing. That was prob-ably a positive. Its all about how youperorm, and i you work harder thaneverybody else you can give yourselan advantage.

All kids want to hit home runs.Instead, Je encouraged his sons notto worry or even think about trying toclear the ences. He had them ocus onbeing solid mechanically and workingon their strengths as much as theycould without ignoring the little thingsthey needed to do to get better. The

25-year-old Seager recognizes the valueo that early oundation.

Thats one o the things thats coolabout having your dad as the coach,youre thinking more about the gamethan i youre just going out to playthen youre done, he said. My dadand I would talk about baseball all thetime. Youre constantly learning andpicking up on little things. He knew

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the undamentals so well and so wewould constantly work on those. Hedhave me and my brothers out at thehigh school all the time, especially aswe got a little older, taking groundballs, hitting, all o that. He alwaysmade time or us.

It wasnt just my dad. He was ourcoach, but my mom was right thereas well the whole time, taking us togames, always supporting us. We werevery ortunate growing up having botho them there or us. That made ahuge dierence.

All HeartDoing things because you want to

and doing things because you have toare vastly dierent propositions. Jehad seen plenty o parents push theirsons to the point where their boysdidnt want to play anymore. He saidhe learned pretty early, though, that hissons wanted to be out there and weremotivated on their own.

In Kyles case, however, pursuingsports wasnt initially smooth sailing.Seager was born with ventricular septaldeect, which is a medical way osaying he had a small hole in his heart.Although its a common conditionthats present at birth, it still createdchallenges early on.

There was a lot o caution rom

doctors about what hed be able toaccomplish, said Je. They werebasically telling him he was going tobe limited. Kyles attitude has alwaysbeen, OK, but Im going to exceedwhatever you think my limits are. Hesdone that his whole lie.

That makes where hes at noweven more rewarding, because he hadto overcome a situation right rom thebeginning, which he did. As the restric-tions kept dropping o, he just keptgoing at it, working real hard. Hesachieved an awul lot.

Limited to non-contact sports, hepursued soccer, basketball and baseballwith zeal, playing soccer until hissophomore year and hoops throughouthigh school.

One o the big things the doctorstold me about my heart conditionis that all the running when I wasyounger, especially playing so muchsoccer, was a big help, he said.

Seager viewed the condition assimply a part o his everyday lie and

not some obstacle he suddenly had toovercome. As such, he never allowedit to become an excuse or to keep himrom pursuing his interests and dreams

with the utmost passion and eort.You pretty much have to outworkeverybody. I know a lot o guys aremore physically gited than me, but iI can outwork them then I can levelthe playing feld and we can go romthere.

Seager has leveled the playing feld,and then some.

One of the Big BoysApril 18, 2013. Seager is six games

into what will become a career-best 16game hit streak, but isnt in the starting

lineup against the Tigers and their aceJustin Verlander. The night beore,he collected one hit in six at-bats andstruck out twice to drop his battingaverage to .203. Hes simply getting abreather as Wedge looks to get sometime or his bench players.

By the bottom o the seventhinning, however, Seattles HisashiIwakuma and Verlander are locked ina scoreless duel. With two outs and aMariners base runner at frst, Wedge is

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looking or a dierence maker. Enter

Seager, who steps into the box againstthe 2011 American League MVP andpromptly laces a frst-pitch astball intothe let-feld corner or a RBI double.Advantage Seattle, 1-0. Endy Chavezollows with a hit and a hustlingSeager scores by a hair to double thescore, 2-0, which eventually holds up.

These are the type o dramaticmoments that Seager dreamt o as akid while playing ball with his atherand brothers and later starring atNorthwest Cabarrus High School,where as a junior he began to realize

the possibilities. A month later he is atYankee Stadium taking BP, preparingto hit out o the three hole. He is, aterall, one o the big boys now.

Wedge appreciates the daily eorthe sees out o his third baseman,and the ongoing aggressive, no earapproach that Seager displays at theplate.

[This approach] has continued

Kyle Seagers good old-ashioned hard work has paid o

at the plate.

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with more strength and more conf-dence and more experience, he said,one day ater Seager belted a three-runhome run against the Yankees. Hesup there hunting the baseball.Whenyou do that, you see the ball better,youre going to still have your walks,youre going to have better pitch selec-tion, but youre ready to go. Thatswhat good hitters do.

Current Yankees outfelder VernonWells observed Seagers maturationover the past couple o years whenthe veteran was a member o theAnaheim Angels.

Its been un to watch, said Wells.Its great to see young guys comein and make adjustments. Thats thehardest thing to do at this level. Theresa big dierence between learning romthem and getting rustrated with them.I think that Kyle has learned what it

takes to be consistent.When youre thrust into the

middle o a lineup spot it can take yourgame to another level. I was ortunateenough to do that when I frst got tothe Big Leagues. Thats where youwant to be, driving guys in, getting onor some big guys behind you. Hesdone a nice job there.

Taking Nothing for GrantedSeager ully appreciates the place he

is at in lie.This is a once in a lietime oppor-

tunity, he acknowledged. Somethingthat a lot o boys dream about growingup. I certainly did. You want to be ableto be in the moment enough whereyou can really appreciate whats goingon and at the same time continue towork hard.

Its something I never want to takeor granted or lose sight o. Its been anamazing experience so ar.

He believes he is living his dreamin large part due to the love, guidanceand support hes received rom somany people, especially his parents andbrothers, and individuals like CoachFox and numerous teammates. Whilethis may be true, all these olks pointback to Seager himsel as the personmost responsible or his own successes.

During Spring Training, I wasreally impressed with Kyle, saidIbaez in May. Im even more

impressed now with his skill oen-sively and deensively. Quiet guy, hardworker, asks a lot o questions, reallyan elite level approach at the plate.Hes as good as they come.

Added Seagers ather: I thinkyou can sum up Ky by saying, Dontset expectations or that kid, becauseI think he will continue right pastanything you set.

Kieran ODwyer is a reelance sport swriter based in New York.

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Seager has impressed his teammates with his hard work and pursuit o excellence both in the

feld and at the plate.