Despite the Los Angeles Dodgers taking the win on Friday night, manager Dave Roberts noted an inexcusable mistake from Andy Pages.
The young outfielder singled to start off the inning, but after Alex Freeland popped into foul territory, Pages was already off to second base. Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. took advantage of Pages not knowing the ball was caught which resulted in a double play.
“It was a straight steal. I thought he had a good jump,” Roberts said. “Alex puts the ball in play, a pop-up. You’ve got to know where the ball is at. He didn’t peek in. He didn’t pick up the third base coach and he got doubled off.
“Andy has grown a lot as a ballplayer. But those are things that we’ve got to continue to tighten up and get better at.”
The Dodgers won, 5-1, but it would have been nice to have a runner on for Shohei Ohtani’s ground rule double almost immediately after, or for Mookie Betts’ home run the very next at-bat.
These are moments that will likely be forgotten, but if the same miscues persist in October, they have the ability to become infamous for all the wrong reasons.
Pages started off the season batting just .183 during his first 15 games. Pages would go on an absolute tear over the next five games, going 14-for-21 with a pair of home runs and six RBIs.
The 24-year-old centerfielder is currently hitting .276/.316/.461 with an OPS of .776 as he showed the ability to turn things around offensively.
Defensively, Pages has emerged as a well-above-average option, with an Outs Above Average ranking of seven, putting him in the 95th percentile among active players. His arm has also proven to be one of his most valuable assets, with Statcast measuring his throwing velocity at 94.2 mph, good for the 97th percentile in MLB.
Pages is still below average in terms of chasing pitches outside of the strike zone, doing so 34.6 percent of the time (12th percentile in MLB) and rarely walks, doing so just 4.4 percent of the time (6th percentile across baseball).
The hope is that Pages’ base running miscues don’t become a habit, and that he can keep reaching new heights as an everyday center fielder.
