The Dodgers, with their 18th overall pick in the 2012 draft, selected SS Corey Seager (Brother of Seattle Mariner, Kyle Seager) out of Northwest Cabarrus High School in North Carolina. He bats left handed and throws right handed.

Cory is known not only as a great baseball player, but an outstanding person as well. With a 4.05 overall weighted GPA, Seager is also a part of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Future Farmers of America, National Beta Club and the Athletes Who Share Unselfish Moments Club.

“He’s one of the greatest players — if not the best — to ever come out of this county,” Derek Shue, former head coach at rival Concord High School, said in a Gatorade release. “With that title, he wasn’t pitched to very often, but he never showed any frustration. He’s just an all-around great kid and one that we all wish we had on our team. From the outside, it looked like he was not only their best player, but also their best person.”

He was essentially drafted for his power and his swing, which, believe me, is a very pretty swing once you get a chance to see it. I saw him hit for the first time yesterday, and it reminded me of Andre Ethier’s swing (Corey is also a lefty) but with faster bat speed and more overall power. Which, for those of you who don’t know exactly what that means with regards to baseball, its basically saying the kid has potential to be an absolute stud.

Seager is thought by many scouts to eventually be moved to third base. Assistant General Manager Logan White however, stated that he drafted Seager as a short stop and for the time being, that is what he’ll be.

“A lot of people think he has to go to third,” said White. “He has Cal Ripken size. I think it’s a mistake to move him off shortstop right away. Let him play and swing the bat. He’s definitely an offensive player. He has a very good swing with power, and he’s a good makeup guy.”

Despite all the talks about the Dodgers going pitching heavy in this draft, White decided to go with not just one positional player (first positional player drafted in the first round since James Loney in 2002) but two. Let’s meet the second…

With the 53rd overall pick, (which was a compensation pick for losing Rod Barajas in Free Agency) the Dodgers selected switch hitting SS Jesmuel Valentin (son of Jose Valentin) out of the Puerto Rico Baseball Academy and High School.

“I want both to play shortstop and let the development process take its course,” said White. “We have to figure a way to rotate, maybe have Valentin play second and short. It’s possible he’ll wind up at second and possible Seager will move to third, but we have options. Good options.”

The interesting thing about Jesmuel, is that yes, he is a switch hitter, but he just started hitting left handed only a year ago. However, White likes what he sees and says the ‘experiment will go on.’

Jesmuel, along with Corey, is another amazing guy. His heart and determination is really something that I haven’t seen in a long time. MLB really took an interest into the Puerto Rican players this year. Carlos Correa, first overall pick by the Astros and teammate of Valentin, would wait at a McDonald’s at 6am every day for his hour long bus ride to school. These players have a dedication to the game you just don’t see anymore.

It is also widely known that the Dodgers current team is filled with second generation MLB players by having the sons of Tom Gordon, Ivan De Jesus, Andy Van Slyke, Jeff Sellers, Jerry Hairston Sr., and others. So for those of you following, yes we continued that ‘tradition‘. Corey is the brother of current Major League player, and Seattle Mariner Kyle Seager, and Jesmuel is the son of former MLB player and Dodger, Jose Valentin. Both understand what that means as well. “I want people to look at me because I have the skills, not because my name is Valentin,” Jesmuel said. “I think I’m a good player and I have a lot of passion for the game. I have it in my blood. I play hard, and I give it my all, 100 percent.”

Overall, Logan White and the Dodgers were extremely happy on how the first round ended up. The picks will be tricky to sign, considering they have both verbally committed to Universities (Corey to South Carolina, Jesmuel to LSU) but given that Corey was given a much higher draft pick than expected, I’m assuming he won’t be as big of a decision as Jesmuel, who is still a toss up.

White, however, is still pleased. “I’m as excited about this Draft as I was when we got Kershaw in 2006, that’s how happy I am with the two players we got.”