Texas Rangers sluggers Corey Seager, Adolis Garcia, Polar Opposite Styles, Growing Closer Alike
ARLINGTON, Texas — Maybe Adolis Garcia is rubbing off on Corey Seager.
The Texas Rangers sluggers, for the most part, have polar opposite on-field demeanor. Garcia — the fiery, flashy Cuban — will admire long balls at home plate. He'll flash his megawatt smile after a big play, and he'll definitely reveal his emotions in front of the world — whether it's egging on Houston Astros fans to keep booing him as he rounds the bases after a game-breaking grand slam in the ALCS, or it's the immediate show anger and concern over a potentially serious knee injury during a game in early September.
Meanwhile, Seager has usually been the reserved, emotionless slugger who belts 420-foot homers and then trots unassumingly, head down, around the bases. He's picked up a reputation for being something of a baseball-playing Terminator, or Android. A robot programmed to excel on the diamond.
Of course, the world has seen in the past week that Seager does, in fact, have deep emotion inside him, and it has exploded before national television audiences after two of the biggest homers of his career. His show of emotions after his first-inning homer in ALCS Game 7 at Houston fired up his teammates and helped lead them to the AL-pennant clinching blowout.
And then in the World Series opener on Friday, Seager topped it with his two-run, game-tying homer in the bottom of the ninth. As soon as he connected on the 440-foot mammoth shot, Seager roared with what appeared to be a mixture of joy and animalistic pleasure at the moment he saw where the ball was headed.
The Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks are set for Game 3 at 7:03 p.m. (CT) Monday at Chase Field in Phoenix.
"I think we saw it in Houston and [in Game 1] I think it went to a whole different level," Rangers offensive coordinator and bench coach Donnie Ecker said of Seager. "The bigger the perceived stage, I think people start to understand him better when he plays in the biggest environments. He doesn’t show that much in the regular season."
Ecker says their opposite personalities are a good thing. It might test a coach's agility to handle different personalities, but that's true up and down the roster for most team sports.
"You have to coach a bunch of different personalities and I think what’s cool is who they are as people," Ecker said. "We embrace that. We encourage the authenticity of who they are as people. It’s the greatest advantage they have is being who they are."
Both Seager and Garcia adore each other and are constantly in awe of the other's feats at the plate. And perhaps Garcia's shows of outward emotion are helping draw them out of Seager, 29.
"They’re really close. There’s probably an element of some shared emotions there," Ecker said. "Playing too, is almost tribal, right? These guys have been in the clubhouse together all year long and they get to the epicenter of it all and there’s going to be some emotions because they care so much."
Garcia, 30, who has hit homers in five of his past six games, has been a must-watch at-bat, teammate Josh Jung said.
"He’s on another planet. You’re happy he suits up for us," Jung said "But every time he steps into the box, it’s like, grab your popcorn. something is about to happen."
Garcia reveres Seager's steady career and appreciates the way Seager leads in the clubhouse.
"He’s a great human being, and in the clubhouse specifically. He’s someone who pushes us," Garcia said. "You might not see it out on the field because of the way he plays, but he’s someone who pushes us all of the time."
Rangers DH and backup catcher Mitch Garver said Seager's emotions come out when winning is on the line. That could be a card game or shooting hoops. Of course, winning baseball games does it too. But until the postseason, and then especially with the World Series title on the line, that's when Seager holds back no longer.
"We didn't really get to see Corey's personality up until recently," Garver said. "We always knew Corey loves winning. Everybody in here loves winning, but Corey loves winning the World Series He's talked about it all year. He's said 'I'll celebrate when we win the World Series, I'll celebrate when we pour champagne on each other.'
"And we're starting to see that throughout the playoffs here. He has really turned it up as far as his emotional being. Adolis has always been that way. He loves the moment. He's got a flare for the big moment and it's really nice having that guy on our team."
You can follow Stefan Stevenson on Twitter @StefanVersusTex.
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