Los Angeles Dodgers: Sorting Through the Outfield Logjam

Center Field: Joc Pederson with a sprinkle of Enrique Hernandez

This one was the easiest and most obvious one of the three. Joc has been a starter for two straight seasons, and there’s no reason why that should change going into this season. He is going into his age-25 season and offers tremendous upside with present production as well. Joc plays above-average defense while having a good batting-eye and tons of pop with the bat. He made the 2015 All-Star team as a rookie before absolutely collapsing in the second half of that season. Then last season he rebounded and showed off some improvements.

His strikeout rate dropped by almost 4 percent while his contact rate jumped by almost 10 percent. Although his outside-the-zone swinging rate increased by 1.0 percent, his contact outside the zone jumped up by 12 percent. You don’t want him to increase his chasing habit, but at least he made more of it. Oh, and he also hit one fewer home run in 91 fewer plate appearances while improving his batting average by 36 points.

Before he went down with a shoulder injury, he had a .804 OPS and was playing solid. However, in the 62 games after he came back, he went off for 12 home runs and a .900 OPS. He ended on a strong note while showing signs of the player he can ultimately be. Add the fact that he plays a good center field and you have a deserving starter. He isn’t uber-athletic or blazing fast, but he has great route-running ability for such a young player. Joc is also improving his reads on defense, which will help him become even better. He should be spared by Enrique Hernandez from time to time, especially against lefties. The next step in Joc’s development is improving versus southpaws.