Four plate appearances vs. Rangers show Andy Pages' growth for the Dodgers

AL EastBlue JaysOriolesRaysRed SoxYankeesAL CentralGuardiansRoyalsTigersTwinsWhite SoxAL WestAngelsAstrosAthleticsMarinersRangersNL EastBravesMarlinsMetsNationalsPhilliesNL CentralBrewersCardinalsCubsPiratesRedsNL WestDiamondbacksDodgersGiantsPadresRockiesScores & ScheduleStandingsPodcastsThe Windup NewsletterFantasyMLB ProspectsMLB OddsMLB PicksPower RankingsFans Speak UpTop ProspectsAnalysisFour plate appearances vs. Rangers show Andy Pages’ growth for the DodgersAndy Pages sought to be a more complete hitter this offseason, and the work is paying off. Harry How / Getty Images Share full article1LOS ANGELES — Andy Pages crafted his evolution one half hour at a time inside the Los Angeles Dodgers’ hitting lab at Camelback Ranch. Each day this spring training, Pages went through his routine on the team’s Trajekt Arc pitching machine. First, he’d spend 10 minutes simply reading pitches. Next, 10 minutes calling out borderline pitches to determine not just if they were a ball or strike, but a pitch worth swinging at. Only then, in the final 10 minutes, would he swing. The work had a purpose. Pages broke out last summer. He made an argument to be an All-Star. But after a second half that frustrated him and an offensive postseason to forget, he sought to be a more complete hitter. The work is paying off. “I feel like all those days and all those repetitions I took in spring training, they’re helping me right now,” Pages told The Athletic in Spanish. Pages is off to a torrid start. Through 13 games, he’s hitting .449 with a 1.256 OPS. How he’s getting there feels sustainable. Four plate appearances in the Dodgers’ 8-7 walk-off win over the Texas Rangers on Friday night show why. “Oh gosh, man,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “You just can’t say enough about what Andy’s done.” To understand the hitter Pages has become, it’s important to remember who he was. Pages’ prospect pedigree grew because of his gaudy power numbers. He was a slugging corner outfielder with the highest average launch angle in the minor leagues and a penchant for swinging and missing. Which makes it fascinating to watch the player that Pages has turned into. He remade his body and turned into a quality defensive center fielder. Dodgers officials have raved about his adaptability, showcasing bat-to-ball skills when needed. “He’s adapted, evolved, adjusted in all fronts,” Roberts said. Pages’ biggest skill set, as hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc put it this spring, is that Pages “doesn’t have any fear at all.” That translates when he gets to two strikes, even against a pitcher in Texas’ Kumar Rocker, who boasts premium stuff. Pages fell into a 2-2 count when Rocker landed a fastball on the outer half of the plate, which seemingly set up the pitch that followed. The right-hander threw Pages a slider at the same height, breaking further and off the plate. When Pages is off, it’s a pitch that he chases and swings through, as he did Wednesday, his worst night of the season to date when he went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts against the Toronto Blue Jays. This time, Pages kept his weight back long enough to strike a hard-hit ground ball through the right side for a two-out single. His ability to use all fields is a skill — Pages already entered Friday with six hits to the opposite field, tied for the most in the majors. This gave him the lead. “If you look at all of baseball, to see how many times he’s hit balls from line to line, he’s got to be number one in that category,” Roberts said. Pages did not take on his new routine to try to walk more. Through the season’s first 12 games, he’d only walked twice. But Pages is seeing more pitches. With that will come more chances to get a pitch he can do damage on. Entering Friday, he saw 4.48 pitches per plate appearance, up from the 3.78 he averaged a year ago. Working deeper counts won’t just help him walk. It will also help him blend into the Dodgers’ boa constrictor-like approach, straining opposing pitching staffs in the process. In the fifth inning, with the Dodgers trailing 4-1, Pages knew what he wanted to do. So he got something going. “(He) knows exactly what he wants to do every time he gets up to bat,” Roberts said. “There’s complete clarity and just kind of letting him be himself as a ballplayer.” Rocker was content to attack him low in the zone. After Pages chased a slider in the dirt to start the at-bat, he dialed things in. Rocker threw just one pitch in the strike zone, and Pages drew a six-pitch walk and eventually came around to score. It’s early, but Pages is swinging less overall this season; he’s hacked at 47.9 percent of pitches this year compared to 53.1 percent a year ago. It still seems to be the right happy medium between overaggressiveness and passivity. In the sixth, the Dodgers had built an inning in front of him with a 4-2 deficit. With two on and one out, Pages wasn’t going to pull the trigger for the sake of it. He wanted his pitch against the lefty. “I’m just trying to find the pitch that I can do the most damage on,” Pages said. “It’s continuing my plan, and not changing it in the middle of the at-bat, and trying to wait for my pitch.” So, Pages didn’t bite when Garcia tried a changeup just below the zone. Garcia left his next one belt-high over the plate, but it wasn’t the pitch Pages was looking for. So he didn’t swing. Same for the next two pitches — a fastball and a changeup, both below the zone to bring the count to 3-1. Garcia, not looking to give in to Pages in a hitter’s count, tried a backdoor slider. It caught some plate, but not enough for Pages to swing. With a full count, Pages was set up for the fastball. When Garcia went to another backdoor slider, Pages remained balanced. Once again, he went the other way with the pitch outside. The ensuing groundball turned into a double the other way, bringing home both runners in front of him to give the Dodgers a 5-4 lead. “If it’s velocity, if it’s spin, if it’s a right-hander, if it’s a left-hander, he has a different club to kind of attack any kind of (pitcher) or pitch,” Roberts said. “That’s special.” Don’t get it twisted. Pages can still slug, especially when he gets the pitch he’s looking for. His 27 home runs in 2025 were second-most on the Dodgers. Pages’ first three trips to the plate were a testament to his patience, as he saw a combined 17 pitches and swung at just five of them. With the Dodgers holding a 5-4 lead, Curvelo was more willing to challenge Pages in the zone. So he tried a sinker over the heart of the plate with his first pitch. Pages took it for a called strike. Curvelo then tried another sinker, which somehow caught even more of the plate. Pages crushed it, his team-leading fourth home run of the season that ripped through the night at Dodger Stadium to expand the Los Angeles’ edge to 7-4. Every ball Pages hit Friday night was well-struck — each left his bat at 100 mph or harder — but none were better hit than the 103.5 mph rocket he hit in his last at-bat. There’s still a balance Pages has to strike between his patience and aggressiveness. But what he’s doing is working right now. “It’s a little difficult,” Pages said. “I feel like at some point I’m going to have to keep getting better at it because that’s what the best hitters in the game do. Obviously, I’m not perfect at it, but I’m trying to get better at it each day, and I feel better.” Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Fabian Ardaya is a staff writer covering the Los Angeles Dodgers for The Athletic. He previously spent three seasons covering the crosstown Los Angeles Angels for The Athletic. He graduated from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in May 2017 after growing up in a Phoenix-area suburb. Follow Fabian on Twitter @FabianArdaya