Back to the Future Part II’s writers Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale are starting to look somewhat prophetic now that the Chicago Cubs have eliminated the typically automatic Cardinals from the postseason. If the Los Angeles Dodgers were to have a similar output from their youngsters like the Cubbies are getting, they might not be facing a game five.
On May 1, center fielder Joc Pederson looked like the second coming of Mike Trout in Los Angeles. His OPS was at a season high of 1.096 then to go along with a .300 batting average. That day, Pederson just wrapped up a 1-for-3 performance against the D-backs in an 8-0 win, hitting his fifth home run of the young season, which was a grand slam.
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But as the 2015 campaign carried on, it became relatively obvious soon after the All-Star break that Chicago’s Kris Bryant had surpassed Pederson as the favorite to win the National League’s Rookie of the Year award. Pederson’s BA/OPS split by August 1 was .225/.807 and then .213/.794 by the time September rolled around. He was a less than pleasant fixture in the Dodgers’ starting lineup by then. His K% was second worst on the team in August and led the pack in September/October.
Pederson went from being one of baseball’s most praised players of the first half to a bench player in the postseason. Against a right-handed heavy rotation of the New York Mets in the NLDS, the left-handed Pederson has registered only one start and three at-bats. In essence, the 23-year-old’s spot has been rescinded by manager Don Mattingly in favor of Enrique Hernandez in center field. Hernandez himself is only 24 and considered a rookie, but you can bet Mattingly would rather have the April glove and bat of Pederson in his lineup than Kiké at his finest.
Likewise, Corey Seager is another dazzling top prospect of the Dodgers that had initial success upon being called up, but whose play has demised once the games became more important than ever. Seager slashed .337/.425/.561 in 27 regular season contests. In the postseason, the promising shortstop has gone only 2-for-12.
Alex Guerrero, another rookie posting a hot start through April and May, has become a ghost in the Dodgers’ 2015 postseason run as well. Pederson and Seager were two of the highest profiled prospects in the minors before the season began. While they, along with Hernandez, have accounted for only seven total bases and three runs through four games versus the Mets, the five standout rookies of Bryant, Kyle Schwarber, Addison Russell, Jorge Soler and Javier Baez on the Cubs have recorded 47 combined total bases and scored nine runs in the same amount of games.
The most enduring statistic of them all though, is winning. The Cubs are guaranteed a chance to play for an NL pennant thanks in part to the timely hitting of their rookies, while the Dodgers will have the daunting task of facing Jacob deGrom in the deciding game five matchup. In a rewind back to game one, deGrom fanned 13 and allowed zero runs across seven innings en route to picking up the win.
All is not lost for the Dodgers yet. With Zack Greinke getting the ball for them Thursday, they have a real chance of eventually meeting the Cubs in that NLCS. However, if young talents like Pederson, Seager and the tease that is Yasiel Puig (0-for-5 in the NLDS) were hitting anywhere near the competency levels of Chicago’s rookies or even their own potentials, Los Angeles might already find themselves having clinched the series.
As it stands now, the Dodgers’ roster still owns the dubious distinction of being the highest payroll of players in the league. If the Mets win Thursday, this will be the second year straight losing an NLDS with that title. Los Angeles is yet to reach a World Series over the last four years with Mattingly at the helm.