When I am wrong, well sometimes I am really wrong. This is one of those times. The kid from Cuba has changed my mind about a lot of things these last couple of months. I still believe he is more suited for a corner outfield position, but he has played center well enough to belay that kind of change for this season at least. Pages was bad the first few weeks of the season. There was a lot of talk about him being sent to AAA. Mostly by us fans. He was not playing great defensively, his routes in CF were an adventure to say the least.
But all of a sudden, something clicked. It probably had a lot to do with his mentor, Teo. For whatever reason, he began getting hits in clutch situations, and he also was making great plays on defense. His cannon of an arm was keeping runners from taking extra bases. He is among the top outfielders in defensive runs saved. A total turn around for the 24-year-old. He batted .292 in March/April with 6 homers and 14 driven in. 
In May his BA dropped into the .250’s, but he drove in 22 runs. So far in June, he is hitting over .300, he has 10 RBI’s and 3 homers. He is hitting .391 with runners in scoring position and his OPS in those situations is .972. In yesterday’s game against the Giants, he had 4 of the 5 Dodger runs batted in. The other came on a homer by Tommy Edman. Pages has matched last season’s total of 13 homers in just 68 games. He is becoming a legitimate star. He also has exactly the same number of RBIs that he had last season, 46. He currently has a 2.7 WAR, twice as high as all of last year.
The bulk of his damage has come batting 5th or 6th in the order. His worst spot is 7th where he is batting under the Mendoza line, and shades of Corey Seager, he is hitting .312 on the first pitch with 8 homers and 29 driven in. He is hitting .286 against RHP, and .268 against LHP. When he plays left field, he is hitting .433. He hits .260 in center and .263 playing right. With yesterday’s performance, he got his OPS up to exactly .800. His OPS + is 125. 
He is .40 points better at home than on the road. When I am wrong, I admit it, this time I was really wrong. The kid has shown he is a more than capable center fielder. He may or may not stay there going forward. He has as many outfield assists this year as he had all of last season. While he has made 3 errors this year, he has not made one playing right field. While it is my belief that he would be much better suited for right, with Teo here for 2 years after this season, he might be staying right where he is.
Then again, how much longer will LA stick with Conforto as the primary left fielder? While Michael has done some nice things with the bat the last couple of weeks, his BA is still hovering in the .170 range. It seems he cannot string together multi-hit games. With Freeman in a power slump, Pages and Ohtani have been the only two consistent power hitters. While most of us fans feel LA needs to target pitching at the deadline, a power bat could also become a target. And definitely a little more production out of their bench players. 
Rojas has not been hitting close to what he did last year. Kike has never been a consistent hitter during the regular season, and he is also slumping. Rushing is still getting his feet wet, and anything you get from him offensively is a plus. Kim is the only bench player with a decent BA. So, Pages offense becomes even more crucial to the success of the team. Since their 8-0 start, the Dodgers are 35-29, just 6 games over .500. Despite all of that, the front office has not panicked at all. No knee-jerk trades so far.
There has been a lot of movement on the roster where pitching is concerned. AF and Gomes have been active adding DFAd arms, and waiver claims looking for healthy arms to add to the mix. Just yesterday, a rule-5 pick was returned to them from the Angels. And the perception is that they will add a starter at the deadline. Just who is anyone’s guess. Right now, the offense is keeping this team in first place. The starting pitching needs to pick up more innings, so the bullpen is not burned out by the All-Star break.
The offense, led by Ohtani, Freeman, Betts, Teo, Smith and Pages, has to keep doing what they are doing. A prolonged slump by these guys, and the picture gets blurred a lot. The bench is going to have to do their job too. Usually when those six guys are in the lineup together, the Dodgers are going to score. Andy Pages has become a huge part of that. I hope he continues to develop as one of the Dodger offensive center pieces.
