Practice this.
Screams of joy in the fields. The field is moving. Andy Pages rounds the bases at Uniqlo Field.
The first Dodger player to hit a homer this season wasn’t Shohei Ohtani or Freddie Freeman. The difference belonged to Pages, a third-year center fielder from Cuba.
And it wasn’t a mistake.
His 400-yard field goal on opening day confirmed what manager Dave Roberts had been saying for weeks: Pages is not the same player he was last year.
“I was just trying to pick better pitches than my first at-bat,” Pages said in Spanish.
Pages came off his previous at-bat against Diamondbacks starter Zac Gallen.
Facing the former All-Star again in the fifth inning, Pages jumped on a curveball that landed over the plate and golfed into left field.
“I think he made a mistake and left it where he didn’t want to leave it,” he said. “We wait for moments like that to wreak havoc.”
Pages is not the same hitter who hit .078 in the postseason and was relegated to a reserve role in the final three games of the World Series. He is not a free-swinger believed to be a Dodger player who hit a pitch that was allegedly thrown out of the strike zone on purpose by reliever Emmanuel Clase to help his teammates with an online bet.
His transformation as an offensive player can be traced back to the work he did on the 12,000-square-foot structure at the Dodgers’ spring training facility that sits between the team’s clubhouse and practice fields.
There, Pages stood up against the Trajekt Arc, a machine that can show a certain pitcher’s wind and deliver pitches as if he had thrown them. The device, used by players to simulate real-life at-bats, was set to throw balls near the edge of the strike zone. Pages were tasked with determining whether pitches were balls or strikes.
“He’s learned to be a better hitter, a big league hitter, not just a slugger,” manager Dave Roberts told reporters during spring training.
That 25-year-old Pages took the job seriously was a testament to his maturity.
“Right now he looks like a seasoned football player,” said Roberts. “I was thinking back to a few years ago when he really didn’t like the weight room and wasn’t the best worker.
“Fortunately he’s been lucky enough to be around a lot of great footballers to learn from. I’m proud of Andy, and I think he’s going to have an even better year. [than last year]I really agree.”
So much so that Roberts chose the Pages as his “click selection” team. Roberts reasoned that if Pages could hit 27 homers last year, he should be able to hit even more with improved plate discipline.
“I will not be surprised [see him] make the All-Star team,” Roberts said.
Although his season continues, Pages will be remembered for his performance in Game 7 of the World Series. Entering the game as a defensive tackle in the bottom of the ninth inning, Pages ran over left fielder Kike Hernandez to catch Ernie Clement’s line drive to the wall for the third out. The Blue Jays had runners on second and third. If Pages hadn’t caught that ball, the World Series would have been theirs.
Pages made another key defensive contribution Thursday, making a sliding catch to rob Gabriel Moreno of a leadoff hit in the seventh inning.
“I think he’s coming off the ball well,” said Roberts. “Even last year, there were questions if he could sit out and play center field at a high level. And he’s worked his tail off, he still has it. Every day, he works, and he continues to get better. His jump, his line on the ball. Obviously, the arm strength is there. So he’s a complete player, and I’m excited to see what he does this year.”
Pages have acquired stellar work habits. As a result, you may now be at risk of becoming one.
