When the Los Angeles Dodgers acquired Curtis Granderson from the New York Mets in August, the move brought valuable depth to an already-talented outfield rotation that included Kiké Hernandez, Joc Pederson, Yasiel Puig and Chris Taylor.
Though, Pederson was sent to Triple-A Oklahoma City as the corresponding move to add Granderson to the active roster. The veteran was one of the more productive hitters at the time of the trade, especially against right-handers. From May 1 to Aug. 19, Granderson hit .259/.378/.561 with 18 home runs in 307 plate appearances — good for a 145 wRC+.
But after joining the Dodgers, he cooled down to the tune of a .161/.288/.366 slash line in 132 trips to the plate. On the brighter side, Granderson homered seven times in that span while sporting a career-high 13.6 walk percentage.
Though Granderson struggled at the plate since his arrival, teammate Kenley Jansen is confident that he’ll turn it around during the postseason, per Helene Elliott of the L.A. Times:
“I’ve always believed he’s an October guy. It doesn’t matter what he might have this year. If you see in 2015 how he owned us, you just want him to bring that to us and we know he can do that,” Jansen said. “He’s hitting the ball pretty good even though stuff doesn’t go his way. I think it all might come back together for him when he gets back to the postseason. It’s going to come back.”
As Jansen notes, Granderson played a big role in helping the Mets eliminate the Dodgers during the 2015 National League Division Series. In 21 plate appearances, he slashed .389/.476/.500 with two doubles and three walks.
Granderson’s success carried over to the World Series, where he hit .250/.360/.700 with three home runs in 25 plate appearances against the Kansas City Royals.
Things may be looking up for Granderson in the present, as he’s swung the bat well over the past two weeks. Over his last 35 plate appearances, he owns a .968 on-base plus slugging with two doubles and three homers.
But in his first opportunity to make an impact for the Dodgers in the playoffs, he went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and left four runners on base in Game 1 of the NLDS.
