Any guesses as to which Dodgers player has hit the most total dingers since the start of the 2015 season? That’d be outfielder Joc Pederson, with a tally of 123.
Sure, he has since been bypassed in more recent seasons by younger slugger Cody Bellinger and the suddenly emergent Max Muncy. And several other excellent players have delivered more WAR to the L.A. franchise over the years. But Joc has been a consistent source of prodigious power for the Dodgers since he first emerged in the majors.
There’s a major caveat here, of course. Last year, all of Pederson’s 36 home runs came against right-handed pitching. He stepped into the box only fifty times against southpaws, managing only a putrid .224/.240/.265 batting line. That’s only marginally better than his .188/.263/.310 lifetime mark against same-handed hurlers. But against righties? Pederson owns a stellar 131 wRC+ in his MLB career.
That excellent output against righties is of obvious value to the Dodgers, but hardly assured Pederson’s place on the roster. He’s set to earn $7.75MM in his final season of arbitration eligibility — a bit spendy given the team’s other players and roster plans. The Dodgers worked hard to deal him this past offseason, reportedly holding talks with the White Sox before finally agreeing to a deal with the Angels … one that ultimately fell apart for other reasons (more details on that collapse here).
This wasn’t the first time we heard trade chatter on Joc … far from it, in fact. Pederson’s status in Los Angeles has never really been assured — even when he was flying up the prospect charts and emerging as a high-end young MLB talent. A former 11th-round draft pick, Pederson was batted around in trade talks long before he reached the majors and the chatter never stopped thereafter.
The Dodgers wouldn’t include Pederson in trade talks involving Jon Lester (link), Cole Hamels (link), David Price (link), and Shelby Miller (link). At one point Pederson was asked about in talks involving Marlins star Jose Fernandez. There was talk of a deal even after a rough 2017 season during which he was temporarily demoted. He was connected to the Braves last winter.
It seems now that the Dodgers might’ve been better served cashing in on Pederson’s trade value when it peaked. But it’s far from a total whiff. He has provided 10.9 rWAR and 13.1 fWAR to the Los Angeles club in 705 games. Strikeouts were the concern when he was younger, but they haven’t prevented him from achieving a lifetime 120 wRC+. The real issue has been the intense platoon needs, though that probably bothers this organization less than any other.
Throughout this lengthy run of success, the Dodgers have moved through quite a number of different players. They’ve leaned on some huge stars and many role players. One of the steadiest forces has been Pederson’s prodigious output against right-handed pitching. And he has risen to the occasion in the postseason, turning in a cumulative .239/.326/.487 slash with seven long balls in 133 plate appearances.
The waiting game that all teams are presently experiencing is even more awkward for Pederson and the Dodgers. It was already weird for him to return to camp after the collapsed trade. Now, as he closes in on his 28th birthday, it’s still possible the California native has already played his last game in a Dodgers uniform after a decade in the organization. If the 2020 season does indeed get underway, Pederson is sure to get plenty of plate appearances against right-handed pitching, but not much opportunity to prove to potential future suitors that he can be trusted to hit lefties.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
soild player and all, but this guy really gets too much credit. dime in a dozen skillset.
No one calls him a superstar, but he’s put up wRC+ over 125 the past two seasons. That’s pretty solid. Guys like that aren’t just laying around for free.
In over 2000 plate appearances against righties Pederson has posted a.242/.353/.507 batting line. Couple that with solid defense in the corners you don’t find too many guys like that. Considering the league has more righties than lefties and the new minimum 3 batter rule joc has more value than you think.
Wow dude way to overvalue walks.
This guy can’t hit for batting average. 74 RBI’s is a career high? Are you freaking serious? And have you seen that elbow pad he wears? That’s caused at least 4 Tommy John surgeries.
Sarcasm is tough to detect when you’re really stupid!
It means Pederson sits against a LH starter in-favor of Hernandez or Taylor.
Agreed, well stated. The three batter rule absolutely increases his value, plug a righty on each side of him… boom. Value. Solid D. Not a superstar but not a dime a dozen either.
He’s not a dime a dozen. He crushes RHP and if he had any competence vs LHP he would be an all star.
BIG if. The fact that he’s not an everyday player diminishes his value. The Dodgers really dropped the ball on Pederson.
Lol how? Dude had been one of their few hitters to actually show up in October
Read the article better. The Dodgers said no to some prime trade offers for a platoon player.
The big catch though is that Pederson, in many of those trades, was a secondary piece. The proposed Hamels trade, for example, centered around Seager and Urias as the primary pieces, with Pederson being a potential additional piece. Dodgers rightly said no. For Price, the Rays wanted Seager, Pederson, and then some. Again, you could easily make the argument the Dodgers made the right call. And lastly, with Lester Pederson was seen as the primary piece, which, right or wrong, he was still a prospect, and the Dodgers TOP OF prospect at the time, which they were lacking in depth in the OF.
Pederson plus one of Seager or Urias for Jose Fernandez would have made the most sense out of any of the proposed trades from when Pederson was a rookie/still unproven prospect.
Dodgers did not at all drop the ball on Pederson. He turned out pretty solid for them: approximately a 3.0 fWAR player that can hit 30+ HR, and has played average defense for his career, with a nice above-average defensive year in 2019.
Good player but .223 doesn’t get it done, not in the show.
Definitely a one-trick pony, but there are some places where he’d be a great fit.
Cleveland for example has an absolutely putrid outfield situation and I was in RF watching him absolutely launch balls out of that park at last summer’s HR Derby.
He’d be a phenomenal one-year rental for them.
Might be an odds on good bet that he’s not going consider or ever sign a 1 year contract with Cleveland or any body else…..he’ll be looking for multi year and with his skillset and penchant for the long ball…he’ll most likely have many suitors.
His OBP is very strong tho and batting average doesn’t really matter as long as he gets on base so people can drive him in
His obp plus power more than make up for the low average. Especially for a team like the Dodgers who can take the mediocre numbers vs lefties.
Its a power game in MLB these days….his lefty splits aren’t going to discourage anybody that is looking for a young, veteran, corner outfielder with his kind of power.
Batting average is a completely meaningless stat, anyway. I’d rather a guy produce in HRs, extra base hits, walks and steals. He could hit .220 for all I care.
Joc is way more valuable than he’s given credit for, because ML pitching is largely RH. If he was a weak side platoon guy it’d be a different story.
He has value, especially for a team like the Dodgers. He’s a great strong side of the platoon player, but he is a platoon player.
based on RC+ last year he was slightly worse than Mookie Betts vs RHP. He was Miles Mikolas vs LHP. Such a polarizing player
Not really that polarizing. Just don’t play him vs lefties. And he should be slightly more valuable with the 3 batter rule for relievers.
Would’ve loved him as the placeholder for Adell. The majority of pitchers are right handed and Goodwin makes a good 4th outfielder (with reverse splits).
Not a bad bat to have off the bench, either, especially with the 3 batter rule.
Man hearing Jose Fernandez’s name is just so sad to think about now. R.I.P Just imagine how nasty of a rotation L.A would have if they would’ve gotten Fernandez though. Kershaw, Fernandez, Hill, Wood, and Maeda all putting up their best seasons would be terrific.
Taught us an important life lesson. Don’t drive a boat while intoxicated and on blow.
Harsh but true.
Or a plane
Maybe not a speed boat at night, but a houseboat during the day is a good time.
If Fernandez had survived he wouldn’t be pitching for the Dodgers, Marlins, or anyone else. He would be in prison. And he wouldn’t be getting out for a very long time.
A lot of a player’s value can be determined by “goodness of fit” in other words if Joc was on a team with less depth he’d probably be exposed more to lefties and his production and metrics would suffer.
His numbers last year aren’t far off from Bryce Harpers….
Imagine if Bryce Harper only played in favorable matchups…
Imagine if Bryce Harper wasn’t paid to be one of the very best hitters in the game.
He’s the type of player that you’d want on your team while he’s under arb control. As I’d imagine he’ll shoot for something like 15-20 million per over 3-4 years in free agency, I’d pass unless I was a team that could afford to pay him that while platooning him.
Joc had an OPS over 900 vs RH, Pollock over 900 vs LH. Great production in LF.
His splits against LHP actually improved some last season. Still not good but not as completely awful as they’d been. In past years it wasn’t unusual to see him swing so hard at pitches his helmet would fly off. He’s become generally more patient at the plate and it has paid off. He’ll get a good offer somewhere, but it probably won’t be from the Dodgers.
Let’s take him for the Giants! Always liked this player!
They could really use him because not only can he hit for power the Giants had an awful offense as, they ranked 2nd to last in the National in runs scored (678), batting average (.239), on base percentage (.302), slugging percentage (.392), OPS (.694), total bases (2185), were also 3rd to last in the National League in home runs (167) and walks (475) as well as 4th to last in the National League in hits (1332).
Surprised nobody mentioned how Pederson and his entire family love the Giants.
I think they will absolutely look at this guy next year if he continues to slug. Would be curious to see how well he’s done at AT&T. One of Zaidi’s goals that he still has not fully made good on was to add more pop to OF.
Man. I guess it’s a good thing the Red Sox didn’t take Joc Pederson in the Betts trade over Downs or Wong, right Commonsenseslapsyou, AtlSoxFan, JD Candello, BlueSkies_LA, JoeBrady and WereAllJustGuestsHere?
I don’t care if he bats .100 in regular season ball. He’s an awesome defender and when there is a clutch moment he shines! I mean, look up 2017 WS. He was the true MVP. “You like that?!?”
Dodgers have used him smartly and well. No reason to extend contract – use until FA and find another.