Sports

/

ArcaMax

Once almost traded to the Angels, Andy Pages is the Dodgers' newest rookie star

Jack Harris, Los Angeles Times on

Published in Baseball

LOS ANGELES — Joc Pederson might not remember the full trade package.

But the former Dodgers slugger won’t soon forget the first time he saw Andy Pages’ swing.

A couple months ago, while watching a Dodgers spring training game, Pederson took immediate notice of Pages, the club’s top outfield prospect. Coming away so impressed, Pederson texted some old friends in the club’s front office.

“I said, ‘That’s different,’ ” recalled Pederson, now the designated hitter for the Arizona Diamondbacks. “That was the first time I’d ever seen him. … It just looked right.”

What Pederson didn’t realize then, and was only reminded of recently: Pages was once almost traded by the Dodgers, reportedly part of a nixed 2020 deal that would have sent Pederson, Ross Stripling and a then-teenage Pages to the Angels.

“I had no idea,” Pederson said, somewhat stunned, “that kid was in the trade.”

 

Four years later, it’s a trade that never happened for the Dodgers that just keeps on giving.

Pages not only stayed with the organization after the trade fell apart — the result, largely, of impatience from Angels owner Arte Moreno — but is now blossoming in his first MLB season

Since being called up on April 16, the 23-year-old is batting .333 with three home runs and 11 RBIs. He has a nine-game hitting streak that has raised his on-base-plus-slugging percentage to .921. He produced his best performance yet on Friday, punctuating a four-hit game against the Atlanta Braves with an 11th-inning walk-off single.

“It was really special because I haven’t been here for that long and I was able to accomplish that,” Pages said through an interpreter postgame.

...continued

swipe to next page

©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Comments

blog comments powered by Disqus