TORONTO \u2014 Since the end of last season, Andy Pages has been playing his favorite video game on the \u2018expert\u2019 setting.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I spent every single day in the offseason and during spring training working off the Trajekt machine,\u201d Pages said in Spanish, referring to the virtual reality simulator that replicates the pitching motion of any pitcher in MLB on a video screen with the ball emerging from that pitcher\u2019s release point and arm angle with the unique characteristics and movement profile of his actual pitches.<\/p>\n
Pages said he spends 30 minutes to an hour not just hitting off the Trajekt machine<\/a> but using it to better hone his swing decisions. He would choose \u201cpitches that move a lot\u201d and no one in baseball has more of those than reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes.<\/p>\n \u201cI focused a lot on the pitches that Paul Skenes was throwing, just because his ball moves so much,\u201d Pages said. \u201cI start with him (on game days), but then I zone in on the starting pitcher for that evening.\u201d<\/p>\n Dodgers hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc said Pages has become one of the team\u2019s most regular users of the Trajekt machine \u2013 and Skenes is a frequent visitor.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s faced Skenes a lot \u2013 the splinker,\u201d Van Scoyoc said of Skenes\u2019 trademark pitch<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s basically a tumbling sinker that has outlier-type movement. He\u2019s identifying \u2018Ball\u2019 and \u2018Strike\u2019 on that.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sure Andy\u2019s logic is \u2026 if I can do it on the hardest pitch, it\u2019ll be easier on pitches that aren\u2019t as good.\u201d<\/p>\n The work has been a driving force behind Pages\u2019 hot start. Last season, he swung at 33% of the pitches he saw outside the strike zone, making for a chase rate of 27% \u2013 the classic formula for getting yourself out that big-league pitchers make a living exploiting.<\/p>\n This year after all of those hours facing Skenes, Pages is swinging at just 30.8% of the pitches he has seen out of the zone and his chase rate has dropped to 18.6%. He has \u201csquared up\u201d the ball (by Statcast standards) on 48% of his swings this year compared to 33% last year.<\/p>\n Swinging at better pitches has led to better results. Pages started the season on a tear. He had multiple hits in seven of the Dodgers\u2019 first 10 games, three home runs in the first eight. Even with things slowing down recently \u2013 and crashing to a halt with a four-strikeout game on Wednesday<\/a> \u2013 Pages leads the majors with a .413 batting average thanks to an MLB-high 19 hits through Wednesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he\u2019s gotten more of an understanding of the value of when you swing at strikes, the results,\u201d Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. \u201cAnd when you swing at balls and you chase, understanding count leverage, what pitchers are trying to do to you, all that stuff. And he\u2019s worked really hard on understanding his strike zone. And when you do that, how much better of a hitter you can become. And so I think he gets a lot of credit, along with the hitting guys, of valuing controlling the strike zone.\u201d<\/p>\n That is not a novel discovery. Pages admits that coaches had preached the value of plate discipline to him for awhile<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThey always tell me that when you\u2019re taking a lot of swings and you\u2019re swinging at really bad pitches outside the zone, it\u2019s really hard to make an impact on balls in the zone, or have a good approach and good at-bats,\u201d Pages said through an interpreter. \u201cI saw that in myself, but they also pounded that in my head as well.\u201d<\/p>\n What might have finally convinced Pages to do something about it were two stretches of last season. Overall, he had a breakout season with 27 home runs and a .772 OPS<\/a>. But he started the season hitting just .159 after 20 games with 22 strikeouts in his first 63 at-bats. It didn\u2019t help that he struggled with his role batting at the bottom of the Dodgers\u2019 order \u2013 something he had never done before.<\/p>\n