Call to the pen
Fansided

Los Angeles Dodgers’ Pederson off to familiar start in 2016

By Brody Hilgenkamp

May 3, 2016; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder Joc Pederson (31), right fielder Yasiel Puig (66) and teammates congratulate each other as they beat the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 10-5. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
May 3, 2016; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder Joc Pederson (31), right fielder Yasiel Puig (66) and teammates congratulate each other as they beat the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 10-5. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Joc Pederson looks almost exactly the same now as he did at the same point in time last season.

At this time last season, it seemed as though Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Joc Pederson was going to run away with the National League Rookie of the Year Award. At the end of April, Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant had played only 12 games, San Francisco Giants third baseman Matt Duffy had a .642 on-base plus slugging percentage and New York Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard was still in the minors.

There are several worthy candidates this season, but Pederson dominated the headlines in April of 2015. In fact, he was one of the best players in the NL. Through May 3 last season, Pederson was slashing .271/.422/.600 with six home runs. It wasn’t Trevor Story-esque, but impressive nonetheless.

Unfortunately, Pederson’s season peaked at the beginning of June. At the end of play on June 3, he was slashing .267/.393/.606 and had homered in four straight games, including one each in a doubleheader on June 2. That gave him 17 home runs on the season.

The rest of his season was grotesque. That slash line dropped to .177/.319/.303 and he had 106 strikeouts in 365 plate appearances.

So, how is Pederson doing thus far in 2016? About the same as the beginning of 2015. His patient approach hasn’t changed much—he was 116th out of 141 qualified hitters in swing rate last season and was 136th entering play Wednesday—and it’s leading to similar results. Here is a chart comparing last year’s numbers through May 3 to this season’s results:

Year

AVG

OBP

SLG

BABIP

K%

BB%

2015

.271.422.600.36131.9

19.8

2016.269.395.507.35929.616.0

Other than a dip in power, things are really close, and it begs the question — is Pederson is setting himself up for a rough second half again? Additionally, his ground ball rate is close to where it was at this point last season and the batting average on balls in play (BABIP) suggests bad things could come. One thing to note is Tuesday was Pederson’s  first start against a left-handed starter, which suggests a platoon even though manager Dave Roberts publicly denies it.

The Los Angeles Dodgers themselves are struggling offensively at the moment, although they did break out for 10 runs in a win over the Tampa Bay Rays last night, with Pederson hitting his fourth and club leading home run. L.A. had scored just four runs over their weekend series against the San Diego Padres.

Next: Top 5 NL ROY candidates through April

Keeping track of Pederson will be an interesting story over the remainder of the regular season. Usually, he’s been hitting towards the bottom of the lineup this season, which may take some pressure off of him and allow him to thrive.

Home/Los Angeles Dodgers