Grandal, Seager big fans of Forsythe trade

Catcher, shortstop tout second baseman during 'Dodgers Love L.A.' caravan

January 28th, 2017

LOS ANGELES -- The addition of second baseman earlier this week received two more endorsements on Friday from new Dodgers teammates and .

"I love him," said Grandal, who played two seasons with Forsythe in San Diego. "He hustles, goes 100 percent each day -- that's what I like about him the most. In San Diego, we had a young team, we were just trying to figure out who we were. But you knew who he was -- no matter how good he was doing or how bad he was doing, he's going to hustle 100 percent. Having him back on my team, it's energizing."

Grandal, Seager and a good portion of the Dodgers' roster spent Friday on the organization's "Dodgers Love L.A." caravans that made several stops in Southland as a lead-in to Saturday's annual FanFest at Dodger Stadium.

Seager only knows Forsythe from what he's seen, but he seconded Grandal's thumbs-up on the acquisition from Tampa Bay for young starter .

"I played against him last year and he's hard-nosed, blue collar, wasn't flashy but just got the job done," said Seager. "Hopefully he'll fit in nice. We needed to fill second base and get a right-handed bat, and he fills both those needs."

Since last year's Dodgers caravan, Seager has undergone the biggest advancement professionally of any Dodger. He was the unanimous National League Rookie of the Year Award winner, a finalist for the NL MVP Award, an All-Star and he won't be 23 until April. But he's already feeling the realities about the business of baseball, as Forsythe has taken the job of a Seager role model, .

"That hurts," Seager said. "Chase helped me a lot, he really did, and I can't thank him enough. But that's the name of the game. Hopefully there's still a chance he comes back. I won't ever lose contact, I'll still ask for advice."

Seager said when he was feeling fatigued late last season, he implemented a more rigorous daily conditioning program based on Utley's.

"It's nice to learn from the best at it," Seager said. "He was very intense pregame."

By contrast, Grandal opened the season with lingering effects from offseason shoulder surgery, then battled through a May hand injury. He finished strong, with 27 homers to lead all catchers, and said he felt better at the end of the season than the beginning.

"I'm just happy this is the first offseason in five years I'm not hurt or rehabbing," he said.

And when Grandal looks back at what he accomplished?

"I look at my numbers, it kind of amazes me and surprised me," he said. "I only had 390 at-bats. I see all these other guys with 40 home runs, but they are getting close to the 600 [at-bat] mark. At the end of the year, I looked back at what I did and kind of impressed myself. I set the bar high. I like the fact I did that. It gave me a little more confidence that I can set that bar even higher."