{"id":657849,"date":"2026-04-02T01:41:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T01:41:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/657849\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T01:41:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T01:41:19","slug":"dodgers-have-surprising-best-hitter-so-far-in-2026-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/657849\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers Have Surprising Best Hitter So Far in 2026 Season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ahead of the 2026 season, Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Andy Pages was <a href=\"https:\/\/dodgersnation.com\/is-andy-pages-a-bounce-back-candidate\/2026\/03\/01\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">a question mark at the plate<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019d hit well during the regular season, but in the playoffs, he vanished in the batter\u2019s box.<\/p>\n<p>In the World Series, he batted .063 after going 1-for-16, with that lone hit being a single.<\/p>\n<p>Through the first few games of 2026, though, Pages is far and away the team\u2019s top hitter.<\/p>\n<p>In five games, he is 6-for-18, a .333 average, and has a home run. In addition, his five RBIs are tied for the team lead.<\/p>\n<p>And through the first six innings of Wednesday night\u2019s game against the Cleveland Guardians, he has the Dodgers\u2019 lone hit, bringing his hit total to seven and drawing praise from <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ByJackHarris\/status\/2039507318883422410\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Jack Harris of The California Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis at-bats have been really good this week,\u201d Harris wrote on social media. \u201cUp to seven hits already. No one else on the team has more than four.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So what changed? It could be a renewed focus on hitting this offseason.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/USATSI_28632902_168396005_lowres.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-301917\"  \/>Mar 31, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder Andy Pages (44) runs after hitting an RBI single against the Cleveland Guardians during the fourth inning at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn ImagesHow Did Andy Pages Prepare for 2026?<\/p>\n<p>To start with, he eschewed playing with Team Cuba in the World Baseball Classic, instead opting to prepare for the Dodgers\u2019 season.<\/p>\n<p>It showed during spring training.<\/p>\n<p>Pages slashed .340\/.370\/.500 with three doubles, a triple and a home run. He also scored 10 runs and drove in nine RBIs.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s the Key to Andy Pages\u2019 Success?<\/p>\n<p>As Dodgers Nation\u2019s Doug McKain said before the season began, Pages needed to be more patient.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe biggest key for Pages to take the next step as an established major leaguer is improving his plate discipline,\u201d McKain said. \u201cAs a rookie, he didn\u2019t draw his first walk until his 76th at-bat, and his patience regressed again in his sophomore season. He drew only 20 walks over his final 128 games and recorded a 3.9% walk rate over the last five months\u2014fourth worst among qualified hitters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So far, that\u2019s an issue he seems to have fixed. He\u2019s only struck out twice, though he has room to improve. He has yet to walk this season.<\/p>\n<p>Do you think Andy Pages can keep up the offensive production this season?<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sab-icon\" src=\"https:\/\/dodgersnation.com\/path\/to\/app-icon.png\" alt=\"App icon\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\"\/><\/p>\n<p>LA Baseball Report<\/p>\n<p>Get the app for faster news<\/p>\n<p> <a id=\"sab-cta\" class=\"sab-cta\" href=\"#\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">GET<\/a> \u00d7  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ahead of the 2026 season, Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Andy Pages was a question mark at the plate.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":657850,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2406],"tags":[1384,5,39,1165,4332,4333,774,57,3224,4331,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-657849","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-dodgers","8":"tag-andy-pages","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-dodgers","11":"tag-la","12":"tag-la-dodgers","13":"tag-ladodgers","14":"tag-los-angeles","15":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","16":"tag-losangeles","17":"tag-losangelesdodgers","18":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116332572808293841","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657849","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=657849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}