The Los Angeles Dodgers had an open competition for their final starting job in Spring Training, but no one separated themselves and Andy Pages remained the everyday option in center field.
Pages is in his second season at the Major League level after showing flashes of talent and having an overall solid rookie year.
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Two areas that plagued him as a rookie were poor defense and bad baserunning. While defense is a much more difficult area to improve upon, continued learning, experience and practice should help a player become a better baserunner.
However, nine games into the 2025 season, Pages has continued to make mistakes on the basepaths, and that was highlighted again in the Dodgers’ first loss of the season against the Philadelphia Phillies when he was picked off with Shohei Ohtani at-bat.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts offered some criticism of Pages, saying he needs to cut down on mistakes when running the bases, via Jack Harris of the L.A. Times:
“As a young player, you still got to play the game the right way,” Roberts said. “He was doubled off a couple games ago. And this one, you go and you stop — you just can’t. … Gotta eliminate those outs on the bases.”
On April 2, Pages was also doubled off while taking too big of a lead and jump off third base with no outs in the inning. The 24-year-old would have scored on nearly any ball in play, making the lead an unnecessary risk that ended up backfiring.
Pages is able to make up for some of his flaws as a baserunner with his speed, but far too often he seems to lose focus on the bases or just has a general lack of baseball IQ when he’s on base.
Andy Pages struggling in all aspects
In addition to the poor running, Pages has also struggled at the plate, hitting .111/.273/.148 through 33 plate appearances with a 42 wRC+ and 36.4% strikeout rate. His misplay of a fly ball in center field also affected Blake Snell, allowing multiple unearned runs to score.
Roberts has backed Pages as a quality defender and believes the offense will improve, but they can’t allow him to continue making correctable and lazy mistakes.
If Pages does not shown signs of improvement, not just with his bat but with his all-around game, the Dodgers may need to make a change at his position.
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