{"id":678661,"date":"2026-04-18T21:54:37","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T21:54:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/678661\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T21:54:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T21:54:37","slug":"dodgers-dave-roberts-has-no-plans-to-move-hottest-hitter-up-in-lineup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/678661\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers’ Dave Roberts Has No Plans to Move Hottest Hitter Up in Lineup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andy Pages is leading the National League in several key categories: hits (28), batting average (.412), slugging percentage (.691) and RBIs (21). He is the Dodgers’ early leader in Wins Above Replacement, per Baseball Reference<\/a> (1.3) and FanGraphs<\/a> (1.4).<\/p>\n

Pages also does not have an entrenched spot in Dave Roberts’ batting order. He’s played all 19 games through Friday, but only once batted higher than fifth. On Saturday, he’s getting his second start above the No. 5 hole, but only because Will Smith is getting the day off<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pages has batted seventh or eighth on six occasions. Five times, he’s batted sixth. <\/p>\n

Andy Pages continues his early-season MVP campaign with a three-run home run to break this game open in the third inning.<\/p>\n

It’s Pages’ fifth home run of the season. He’s now hitting .431 with an OPS of 1.227.<\/p>\n

Dodgers lead the Mets 4-0.pic.twitter.com\/Puvs9jgsci<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Noah Camras (@noahcamras) April 14, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

On many teams, if not most, Pages would bat first, second or third. Yet Roberts hasn’t felt compelled to move up Pages in a batting order that features some combination of Shohei Ohtani, Kyle Tucker, Freddie Freeman, Will Smith and \u2014 before he landed on the injured list<\/a> \u2014\u00a0Mookie Betts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think his production has been enhanced because of where he\u2019s hitting, and the guys that are hitting in front of him,\u201d Roberts said recently.<\/p>\n

The most compelling argument for moving Pages up in the order requires a special kind of ignorance for sample size. <\/p>\n

For all his strengths, the 25-year-old Pages will not hit .412 all season. Nor will Kyle Tucker, the highest-paid player in baseball, finish the 2026 season with a .688 OPS (97 OPS+). The season is barely three weeks old.<\/p>\n

Besides Tucker, however, everyone in the Dodgers’ lineup batting ahead of Pages is holding his own weight. The team is 15-4 after beating the Colorado Rockies on Friday. <\/p>\n

And perhaps, as Roberts suggested, Pages is hitting well because \u2014 not in spite of \u2014 the fact that he’s lined up closer to the bottom of the Dodgers’ batting order than the top.<\/p>\n

Andy Pages is playing out of his mind.<\/p>\n

He just hit his third home run of the season and is up to 10 RBIs. He’s hitting .500 with an OPS of 1.374 and leads the league with 14 hits.<\/p>\n

Absurd start to the year for the Dodgers centerfielder.pic.twitter.com\/FxxKFySkav<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Noah Camras (@noahcamras) April 4, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI do like having things bleed to him, as far as the game comes, and he\u2019s getting some RBI opportunities with guys in front of him,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cThen there\u2019s the other argument to having your better hitters take the most at-bats, right? <\/p>\n

“So the way I\u2019m seeing it right now, he\u2019s still gonna be in the middle to the bottom, but it could change. I\u2019m not beholden to anything for the long term.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roberts probably won’t bat Pages eighth anytime soon, like he did for the first week of the season.<\/p>\n

According to The Athletic’s Katie Woo<\/a>, Roberts made that change “mainly to create better pinch-hit opportunities at the bottom of the order with Miguel Rojas and Hyeseong Kim platooning at shortstop and Alex Freeland at second.”<\/p>\n

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