Dodgers’ Andy Pages returned this season as new player for World Series champs

Get used to this.

The cries of joy in the stands. The stadium shaking. Andy Pages rounding the bases at Uniqlo Field.

The first Dodgers player to homer this season wasn’t Shohei Ohtani or Freddie Freeman. The distinction belonged to Pages, the third-year center fielder from Cuba.

And it was no mistake.

His 400-foot shot on Opening Day confirmed what manager Dave Roberts had been saying in recent weeks: Pages isn’t the same player he was last year.

“I was simply trying to pick better pitches than I did in my first at-bat,” Pages said in Spanish.

Pages struck out in his previous at-bat against Diamondbacks starter Zac Gallen.

Facing the former All-Star again in the fifth inning, Pages pounced on a curveball that stayed over the plate and golfed the pitch into the left field pavilion.

“I guess he made a mistake and left the ball where he didn’t want to leave it,” he said. “We wait for moments like that to inflict damage.”

Pages isn’t the same hitter who batted .078 in the postseason and was relegated to a reserve role in the final three games of the World Series. He’s not the free swinger who is believed to be the Dodgers player who whiffed on a pitch that was allegedly thrown out of the strike zone on purpose by Guardians reliever Emmanuel Clase to help associates with an online wager.

His transformation as an offensive player can be traced back to work he did in a 12,000-square-foot building on the Dodgers’ spring training complex that stands between the team’s clubhouse and practice fields.

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There, Pages stood in against a Trajekt Arc, a machine that can show the windup of a particular pitcher and deliver pitches as if he had thrown them. The device, which is used by players to simulate real-life at-bats, was set to throw balls near the edge of the strike zone. Pages was tasked with determining whether the pitches were balls or strikes.

“He’s learned to be a better hitter, a major-league hitter, not just a slugger,” manager Dave Roberts told reporters in spring training.

That the 25-year-old Pages treated the exercise with the seriousness that he did was evidence of his maturation.

“Right now, he looks like a veteran ballplayer,” Roberts said. “I could think back to a few years ago when he didn’t really like the weight room and really wasn’t the best worker. But now you look at him and he values the weight room, being in shape, scouting and being prepared with the pitchers.

“He has fortunately had the luxury of being around a lot of great ballplayers to learn from. I’m really proud of Andy, and I think he’s going to have an even better year [than last year], I really do.”

So much so that Roberts selected Pages as his team’s “pick to click.” Roberts figured that if Pages could hit 27 homers last year, he should be able to hit even more with improved plate discipline.

“I wouldn’t be surprised to [see him] make an All-Star team,” Roberts said.

However his season unfolds, Pages will be remembered for his catch in Game 7 of the World Series. Entering the game as a defensive replacement in the bottom of the ninth inning, Pages ran over left fielder Kike Hernandez to grab a line drive by Ernie Clement at the wall for the third out. The Blue Jays had runners at second and third. If Pages hadn’t caught that ball, the World Series would have been theirs.

Pages made another critical defensive contribution Thursday, making a sliding catch to rob Gabriel Moreno of a leadoff single in the seventh inning. 

“I just think he’s getting off the ball so well,” Roberts said. “Even last year, there were questions if he could stay out and play center field at a high level. And he’s worked his tail off, he really has. Every single day, he’s putting in work, and he just keeps getting better. His jumps, his line to the ball. Obviously, the arm strength is there. So he’s a complete player, and I’m excited to see what he can do this year.”

Pages has picked up the work habits of a superstar. As a result, he could now be on the verge of becoming one himself.