The Los Angeles Dodgers have one of the oldest rosters in baseball, but one of their starting outfielders is just 24 years old.
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Andy Pages is one of the youngest players on the Dodgers, and his inexperience has been apparent throughout the postseason. In the National League Championship Series, Pages hit .182 against the Milwaukee Brewers’ pitching staff. His batting average was considerably worse in the Wild Card Series and NL Division Series.
Manager Dave Roberts sent a clear message to his young outfielder ahead of the World Series. The Dodgers skipper addressed the media Thursday afternoon in Toronto, and was asked about a long conversation he had with Pages during the team’s workout.
“Yeah, we were just talking about some approach stuff at the bat. I think he’s valuable in the sense of having his center field defense. I just see him getting some big hits for us and trying to continue to look forward and free him up mentally. And that’s just kind of a lot of the thought behind me having a chat and just letting him know I’m supporting him and I still believe in him. That’s kind of the genesis.”
Pages had a slow start to the season offensively, but eventually returned to form with his 27 regular season homers trailing only Shohei Ohtani among Dodgers. Moreover, Pages ranked in the top four on the team in several other offensive categories, including RBIs (86), batting (.272), stolen bases (14) and total bases (268).
Roberts is hopeful the layoff helped Pages find a freer mentality as the Dodgers take on the Toronto Blue Jays.
“With young players, confidence is something that you’ve always got to — you got to keep an eye on, and it can go awry pretty quickly if they’re not having success,” Roberts said. “So I just wanted to make sure that — to keep him in a good head space.
“But, yeah, to be able to not have to get hits and take some time to have some lives, not have to look at the scoreboard, and feel better about your swing. I think there’s some good to that for Andy for sure.”
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