Dodgers’ Corey Seager to miss rest of season after Tommy John surgery

The Dodgers announced Monday that shortstop Corey Seager will undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the rest of the season.

The news comes as a major surprise, considering Seager played as recently as Sunday in Los Angeles’ season finale against the Giants. He had gotten off to a mediocre start by his standards, hitting .267/.348/.396 with two homers in 26 games while dealing with some hip soreness that kept him out of the lineup Friday.

In Seager’s absence, the Dodgers appear likely to turn to Chris Taylor to man the position, though that will create a hole for the club in center field. Taylor, who broke into the majors as a shortstop, and Kike Hernandez, who has already appeared at seven positions this year, are the most natural options to replace Seager with Joc Pederson, Matt Kemp, Alex Verdugo and Yasiel Puig (when healthy) serving as the top four outfielders on the depth chart.

Seager, who turned 24 last week, has been a 13.8-WAR player since breaking into the majors in September 2015, being named an All-Star in each of the last two seasons and winning the NL Rookie of the Year award in 2016. He’s the second significant loss of the year for the Dodgers, who have yet to see any contributions from Justin Turner, who fractured his wrist after being hit by a pitch in spring training.

Los Angeles already sits seven games behind the NL West-leading Diamondbacks, holding a 12-15 record so far this year.