{"id":646382,"date":"2026-03-27T11:20:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T11:20:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/646382\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T11:20:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T11:20:26","slug":"dodgers-andy-pages-primed-for-a-potential-breakout-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/646382\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers’ Andy Pages primed for a potential breakout season"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Andy Pages<\/a> hasn\u2019t forgotten about last postseason, though he\u2019d like to. And he\u2019d surely like you to forget about it, too \u2014 or, well, most of it.<\/p>\n

Feel free to retain the mental image of his epic smash-and-grab catch<\/a> over teammate Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That stunning play in the bottom of the ninth inning didn\u2019t just save Game 7 of the World Series<\/a>, it also spared Pages\u2019 reputation. Covered for the ignominy of his historically woeful four-for-51 hitting performance.<\/p>\n

You know what will help everyone totally flush those memories? To turn the proverbial page? Maybe keep us from mentioning it ever again?<\/p>\n

A steady diet of games like Thursday\u2019s<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

In an 8-2 season-opening victory<\/a> over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium, Pages stood out among his club\u2019s standouts.<\/p>\n

And, as the eighth man in the order, he also served up a reminder that there really will be no rest for weary opposing pitchers this season.<\/p>\n

The buoyant bottom of the lineup has bite, too: Let the record show it was Pages who hit the Dodgers\u2019 first home run and drove in the club\u2019s first runs to kick off their pursuit of a third consecutive World Series championship<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That it was he who cracked the code against Diamondbacks righty Zac Gallen in the fifth inning, teeing off on a three-run, 400-foot home run to left-center field.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Share via Close extra sharing options <\/p>\n

And that it was his at-bat to lead off the eighth \u2014 a full-count single the other way, into right field \u2014 that Roberts had to mention postgame.<\/p>\n

In spring training, Roberts anointed Pages as this season\u2019s \u201cpick-to-click\u201d candidate, in part because of how hard the 25-year-old center fielder has been working on improving his plate discipline after swinging at 32% of pitches outside of the zone last year.<\/p>\n

The pick-to-click distinction previously went to Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a> in 2024, before he became an All-Star in his first season with the Dodgers. Last year, Michael Conforto was Roberts\u2019 pick.<\/p>\n

Small wonder, perhaps, that Pages isn\u2019t putting too much stock in his manager\u2019s prediction: \u201cIt feels really nice for him to say that about me, or to pick me, but obviously I\u2019m not really focused on that,\u201d he said, through an interpreter.<\/p>\n

What he\u2019s focused on, he said, \u201cis just trying to do everything I can, every day, to get a little bit better.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what\u2019s got his manager so revved up.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a complete player,\u201d Roberts gushed. \u201cAnd I\u2019m excited to see what he can do this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is an Andy Pages Breakout Season loading?<\/p>\n

\"Andy <\/p>\n

Andy Pages, center, celebrates with Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez, left, and Max Muncy after hitting a three-run home run in the fifth inning Thursday against the Arizona Diamondbacks.<\/p>\n

(Gina Ferazzi \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Were last season\u2019s 27 home runs \u2014 second most on the Dodgers, behind Shohei Ohtani\u2019s 55<\/a> \u2014 not a breakout?<\/p>\n

I think … not?<\/p>\n

Not when Pages so clearly has so much more to give.<\/p>\n

Now when he does his homework like he did this spring, stationing himself in front of a pitching machine, calling out balls and strikes. (Watch out, Automated Balls and Strikes system?)<\/p>\n

Not if the Dodgers can come to trust him at the plate like they now feel secure with him blanketing the outfield.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven last year when there were questions if he could play center field at a high level,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cAnd he\u2019s worked his tail off, he really has. Every single day, he\u2019s putting in work and he just keeps getting better \u2014 his jumps, his lines to the ball, and obviously the arm strength is there.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Pages had another one of his sensational snags, taking an angle that would\u2019ve made a defensive back proud in pursuit of Geraldo Perdomo\u2019s fly ball to start the seventh. Stretched out, Pages slid beneath the ball to add to his opening-day highlight reel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel good,\u201d Pages said, when I asked him afterward not about last postseason, but about his confidence heading into this season \u2014 though his mind went back there anyway.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something that happened earlier, the postseason is what the postseason was,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not really focused on that, I\u2019m focused on what I\u2019m doing right now and my confidence is really high right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keep it up, and all anyone will remember is the heroics \u2014 including those to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andy Pages hasn\u2019t forgotten about last postseason, though he\u2019d like to. And he\u2019d surely like you to forget…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2404],"tags":[1384,146,22,4314,2229,5,13481,5347,38,39,25635,14,82840,4,3413,33891,1602,1479,151,6272,82839],"class_list":{"0":"post-646382","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arizona-diamondbacks","8":"tag-andy-pages","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-arizona-diamondbacks","11":"tag-arizonadiamondbacks","12":"tag-ball","13":"tag-baseball","14":"tag-bottom","15":"tag-club","16":"tag-diamondbacks","17":"tag-dodgers","18":"tag-first-home-run","19":"tag-game","20":"tag-last-postseason","21":"tag-mlb","22":"tag-page","23":"tag-pursuit","24":"tag-roberts","25":"tag-season","26":"tag-spring-training","27":"tag-thursday","28":"tag-zone-last-year"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116300876502495622","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646382","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=646382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}