Dodgers’ Andy Pages primed for a potential breakout season
Andy Pages hasn’t forgotten about last postseason, though he’d like to. And he’d surely like you to forget about it, too — or, well, most of it.
Feel free to retain the mental image of his epic smash-and-grab catch over teammate Kiké Hernández.
That stunning play in the bottom of the ninth inning didn’t just save Game 7 of the World Series, it also spared Pages’ reputation. Covered for the ignominy of his historically woeful four-for-51 hitting performance.
You know what will help everyone totally flush those memories? To turn the proverbial page? Maybe keep us from mentioning it ever again?
A steady diet of games like Thursday’s.
In an 8-2 season-opening victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium, Pages stood out among his club’s standouts.
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.
The buoyant bottom of the lineup has bite, too: Let the record show it was Pages who hit the Dodgers’ first home run and drove in the club’s first runs to kick off their pursuit of a third consecutive World Series championship.
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.
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And that it was his at-bat to lead off the eighth — a full-count single the other way, into right field — that Roberts had to mention postgame.
In spring training, Roberts anointed Pages as this season’s “pick-to-click” 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.
The pick-to-click distinction previously went to Teoscar Hernández in 2024, before he became an All-Star in his first season with the Dodgers. Last year, Michael Conforto was Roberts’ pick.
Small wonder, perhaps, that Pages isn’t putting too much stock in his manager’s prediction: “It feels really nice for him to say that about me, or to pick me, but obviously I’m not really focused on that,” he said, through an interpreter.
What he’s focused on, he said, “is just trying to do everything I can, every day, to get a little bit better.”
That’s what’s got his manager so revved up.
“He’s a complete player,” Roberts gushed. “And I’m excited to see what he can do this year.”
Is an Andy Pages Breakout Season loading?
Andy Pages, center, celebrates with Teoscar Hernández, left, and Max Muncy after hitting a three-run home run in the fifth inning Thursday against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Were last season’s 27 home runs — second most on the Dodgers, behind Shohei Ohtani’s 55 — not a breakout?
I think … not?
Not when Pages so clearly has so much more to give.
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?)
Not if the Dodgers can come to trust him at the plate like they now feel secure with him blanketing the outfield.
“Even last year when there were questions if he could play center field at a high level,” Roberts said. “And he’s worked his tail off, he really has. Every single day, he’s putting in work and he just keeps getting better — his jumps, his lines to the ball, and obviously the arm strength is there.”
On Thursday, Pages had another one of his sensational snags, taking an angle that would’ve made a defensive back proud in pursuit of Geraldo Perdomo’s fly ball to start the seventh. Stretched out, Pages slid beneath the ball to add to his opening-day highlight reel.
“I feel good,” Pages said, when I asked him afterward not about last postseason, but about his confidence heading into this season — though his mind went back there anyway.
“It’s something that happened earlier, the postseason is what the postseason was,” he said. “I’m not really focused on that, I’m focused on what I’m doing right now and my confidence is really high right now.”
Keep it up, and all anyone will remember is the heroics — including those to come.