Andy Pages’ enchancment couldn’t have come at a greater time for each him & the Dodgers – Dodgers Digest

There was a time earlier this season when people had been calling for Andy Pages to be demoted to Triple-A Oklahoma Metropolis. On the time, it made some sense. Via April 19, he was hitting simply .179/.286/.328 and was putting out in practically 30% of his plate appearances. Since then, he has hit .323/.341/.534 and has whiffed in simply 15.2% of his plate appearances.

Whereas it’s nonetheless a small pattern dimension, it’s clear he has made some changes. Diving into the info, his enchancment seems to be fueled by improved plate self-discipline, strike zone judgment, being higher towards the slider and one thing else that’s not quantifiable — his psychological state.

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General, his numbers aren’t that a lot better than final season — and a few are barely worse:

12 months	AVG	OBP	SLG	BB%	Ok%	wRC+
2024	.248	.305	.407	6.5	24.4	100
2025	.270	.318	.449	5.2	20.4	115

But, he has a unique really feel this season.

He started the 2025 season hitting principally within the No. 9 spot within the stacked Dodgers’ lineup. He hit there 15 occasions in his first 24 video games. Since then, he hasn’t hit ninth. A few of that is because of accidents to the likes of Tommy Edman and Teoscar Hernandez, in addition to the ineffectiveness of Michael Conforto, however he additionally earned the suitable to hit larger within the lineup. He, admittedly, felt misplaced hitting at finish of the lineup.

“‘I’ve by no means hit in that spot within the order,’ Pages stated by an interpreter after going 4 for five with a career-high 4 RBIs (whereas batting sixth). ‘At first I used to be extra passive, making an attempt to see as many pitches as doable. That’s by no means helped me. In my profession, that’s by no means helped me as a result of I get too passive. The pitches within the zone, I must hit.’
Pages stated he spoke with Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts and president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and so they informed him to ‘calm down, to be myself.’ So he stopped eager about the place he was hitting – and began hitting.

“‘I believe it’s extra as a result of I haven’t thought as a lot about the place the staff has me hitting,’ he stated of the surge. ‘I’ve merely executed what I’ve instinctively at all times executed and issues are turning out properly that approach.’”

Hitting is as a lot — if no more — psychological than bodily. As soon as Pages stopped making an attempt to be the hitter he isn’t, he turned his season round. Let’s dive deeper into that turnaround.

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Whereas he’s not hitting the ball any tougher, is hitting fewer fly balls and is swinging extra outdoors the strike zone, the areas of enchancment outweigh these bits of regression.

For starters, Pages is making extra contact total this season. Final yr, he ran a 77.8% contact price. This yr, he has improved it to 80.4%. His in-zone swing proportion is almost similar to final season (71% to 70.5%), however he’s making contact at nearly a 5 proportion level enhance over final season — 89.4%. Whereas he’ll by no means be confused for Luis Arraez or Nico Hoerner, he’s High 50 in baseball and is fourth on the Dodgers together with his Z-Contact%, behind Edman, Will Smith and Mookie Betts.

As a result of he’s making extra contact within the zone — regardless of swinging at pitches outdoors the zone barely extra — he has been in a position to scale back his strikeout price to a really palatable 20.4%. He has made a marked enchancment towards sliders particularly, which has been an enormous purpose for his success to date this season in comparison with his struggles final yr.

12 months	AVG	SLG	ISO	Whiff%	PutAway%	EV (MPH)
2024	.174	.246	.072	36.6	19.6	84.3
2025	.341	.545	.205	18.7	9.8	87.2

As such, his run worth has executed a 180. He was -7 run worth towards the slider final yr. This yr, it’s +4. As a cumulative statistic, he has executed this in fewer than half the plate appearances he had in 2024. He’s additionally doing it by seeing extra sliders to date this season (19.9% to 17.3%). The league, assuredly, has this intel, so maybe groups will cease throwing him as many sliders (although, it hasn’t occurred but) and assault him with a unique breaking pitch. The one different pitch with horizontal motion that offers Pages hassle (i.e., unfavourable run worth) is the cutter, with a -3 this season. That’s one thing to watch going ahead with the prevalence of cutters as of late.

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Basically, Pages is changing into a extra full hitter and fewer of a platoon man because of his enchancment towards spin and, most significantly, him getting over any psychological hurdles he had a couple of month in the past. As soon as a High 100 prospect, he appeared extra like a task participant final yr (regardless of his 2-home run sport within the NLCS). Now, he’s wanting like a strong, on a regular basis starter. He will not be the following Teoscar on the plate, but when he’s a lesser model of him with the bat whereas taking part in superior protection, properly, that’s a man. And that’s a man the Dodgers want in a bunch plagued by superstars.