{"id":41484,"date":"2025-05-20T14:59:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T14:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/41484\/"},"modified":"2025-05-20T14:59:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T14:59:08","slug":"roberts-andy-pages-is-an-everyday-player-for-dodgers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/41484\/","title":{"rendered":"Roberts: Andy Pages “Is An Everyday Player” For Dodgers"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dodgers activated veteran outfielder Teoscar Hernandez<\/a> from the injured list yesterday and optioned James Outman<\/a> to Triple-A Oklahoma City. Hernandez\u2019s return won\u2019t cut into the playing time of hot-hitting 24-year-old Andy Pages<\/a>, it seems. Manager Dave Roberts told the Dodgers beat last night that Pages is \u201can everyday player\u201d who\u2019ll see only occasional off-days (including last night).<\/p>\n

It would indeed be hard to cut into Pages\u2019 playing time based on his performance of late. The former top prospect posted a league-average .248\/.305\/.407 slash (100 wRC+) as a rookie but has raked at a .280\/.333\/.494 clip with nine home runs in just 177 plate appearances in 2025. He and Hernandez have been far and away the team\u2019s two most productive outfielders this year.<\/p>\n

There are some reasons to take Pages\u2019 breakout with a grain of salt. He hasn\u2019t made substantial changes to an approach at the plate that still seems like it could use work. Pages fanned in 24.4% of his plate appearances as a rookie and walked at just a 6.5% clip. Both marks were worse than league average. In 2025, he\u2019s slightly pared back the strikeouts (23.2%) but has seen his walk rate dip as well (5.6%). The league-average strikeout rate is 22%;\u00a0 for walks, it\u2019s 8.7%.<\/p>\n

Pages is making more contact on pitches within the strike zone, jumping from a slightly below-average 84.8% last year to a healthier 88.2% in 2025. (League-average is hovers between 85% and 85.5%.) However, he\u2019s also chasing off the plate more frequently this season and swinging more often in general. Of the 165 qualified hitters in Major League Baseball, only 15 have swung more often than Pages, who\u2019s offered at just under 54% of the pitches he sees. Hitters can certainly succeed with an aggressive approach \u2014 Pete Crow-Armstrong<\/a> swings more often than any hitter in the National League \u2014 but Pages has well below-average quality of contact.<\/p>\n

None of this is to say Pages can\u2019t or won\u2019t be a solid hitter \u2014 but continuing on at a pace that\u2019s about 30% better than average seems unlikely without some refinement to his approach or an uptick in hard contact. Even if he\u2019s \u201conly\u201d around 10% better than average at the plate for the rest of the season, he\u2019s a clear everyday player, given his glovework in center field and his plus speed.<\/p>\n

With Pages locked into regular or near-regular reps in center field and Hernandez back to his post in right field, the Dodgers will look to a combination of Michael Conforto<\/a> and Tommy Edman<\/a> in left field. Edman figures to be out there on days that Hyeseong Kim<\/a> gets the nod at second base, although Kim has also played some center field and pushed Pages to left field. Broadly speaking, left field will be handled in more piecemeal fashion.<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old Conforto, signed to a one-year deal worth $17MM this offseason, has struggled immensely thus far but still seems like he\u2019ll get the lion\u2019s share of playing time for now. Both that contract and some positive traits that run counter to his bleak .168\/.304\/.273 slash through 171 plate appearances should net him a bit more leash. Conforto is walking at a huge 13.5% clip, and he\u2019s averaging 91 mph off the bat while putting 47% of his batted balls in play at 95 mph or greater. He\u2019s not expanding the zone all that often, and his contact rate within the zone is nearly 86%.<\/p>\n

At some point, the results will need to be there for him to continue getting chances, but it\u2019s understandable right now if the Dodgers are convinced better days are ahead. Conforto mashed at a .273\/.329\/.529 pace in a near identical playing time sample of 173 plate appearances following the 2024 trade deadline, which helped him secure that contract in the first place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dodgers activated veteran outfielder Teoscar Hernandez from the injured list yesterday and optioned James Outman to Triple-A…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1384,5,1393,111,4,1528,880],"class_list":{"0":"post-41484","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-andy-pages","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-hyeseong-kim","11":"tag-michael-conforto","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-teoscar-hernandez","14":"tag-tommy-edman"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114540758073255650","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}