The Dodgers’ best hitter through the first three series of the season isn’t a household name. He isn’t the face of any international ad campaigns or the headliner of any new Los Angeles murals. Until the Dodgers rolled out a backup-heavy lineup Sunday in their sweep-clinching win against the Nationals, he hadn’t even hit higher than sixth in the Dodgers’ batting order. Make no mistake, however, Andy Pages has steadied the Dodgers’ offense despite a slow start from its biggest stars. And on Monday he was named the National League player of the week. “I don’t want to talk about it, let’s just keep it going,” first baseman Freddie Freeman said with a smile this weekend. “But it’s been an incredible start that you can only dream of. Hopefully we’ll keep it at that and we won’t talk about it anymore than that and keep it going.” Can’t risk jinxing it. But Pages’ first nine games of the season have been incredible. He entered Monday tied for the most hits in the majors (16), matched by only the Marlins’ Xavier Edwards. He led the team in WAR (0. 9), and qualified Dodgers hitters in OPS (1. 294). Is manager Dave Roberts ready to pat himself on the back for making Pages his pick to click at the end of spring training? “Not yet,” Roberts said. “More of a sample, then I will. I really like his work. I trust his head. He’s very mature. He’s matured a lot over the last couple of years. He’s hungry. I just felt that he was due to take another step forward.” Fair enough, early April is prime overreaction season. But the foundation of his early success is rooted in plate discipline, which should have a lasting impact, even as he goes through the normal ups and downs of a season. “[The coaching staff] always told me that when you’re taking a lot of swings and you’re swinging at really bad pitches, outside the zone, it’s really hard to to make impact on balls in the zone, or have good approaches and good at-bats,” Pages said through an interpreter. “I saw that in myself but also they kind of pounded that in my head as well.” He’d spend 30 minutes to an hour most days in spring training dialing up the Trajekt pitching machine to test his sense of the strike zone. The Trajekt can be set to mimic actual MLB pitchers’ arsenals. So, looking for pitches with a lot of movement, he most often input reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes. Now that the season is underway, Pages will start with Skenes and then turn to that day’s starting pitcher. “I think the swing is the same,” Pages said. “I just took notice that last year when I went on my bad runs, I just saw I was undisciplined at the plate, taking bad swings, and that tended to let in negative thoughts and being able to go in that bad headspace.” His chase rate has dropped from 33. 2% last season to 27. 6 % entering Monday. Shortstop Mookie Betts’ oblique injury over the weekend raised the question, could Pages move up in the batting order as Roberts reimagines the top of the lineup? “Do I feel comfortable with him hitting in the 3?” Roberts said of Pages. “Absolutely.” There are, however, other considerations. How would moving him up that high affect the rest of the order? Would opposing pitchers attack him differently? “There’s a tax on a starting pitcher to go 1 through 6 to then get to the seventh or eighth hitter which to his credit he has taken advantage of,” Roberts said. “But if you look at the at-bats separately, he’s taking really good at-bats and he’s spoiling pitches, taking pitches that he needs to. I do think where his swing is at, where his head is at will translate anywhere in the order.” In the first game of a World Series rematch against the Blue Jays, Pages hit sixth.
https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/story/2026-04-06/dodgers-andy-pages-hot-start-nl-player-of-the-week