Dodgers: Grading the Outfield for the Month of April

Due to their struggles against left-handed pitching in 2016, Franklin Gutierrez was signed by the Dodgers to do one job: hit lefties. Gutierrez is a career .288 hitter off left-handed pitching with a .844 OPS and 50 home runs. In April the Dodgers did not get a chance to see if he still has that lefty-killing magic in his bat because he went down with a hamstring injury.

Gutierrez got only 13 at-bats in April with 12 of those coming against lefties. He posted a .231 average with two doubles in 12 at-bats off of lefties. He struck out four times, so he seemed to be hit or miss in his brief amount of at-bats. One thing working for Franklin was that his average exit velocity was 90 miles per hour, which was the second highest of any Dodger outfielder.

Against the Rockies and Cubs, Gutierrez had a few fly balls that he just missed for home runs. Had he been able to get around on those pitches, he might have better numbers and a better grade for the month of April. However, due to his predictive injury issues and failure to do much damage in his small amount of opportunity, Gutierrez gets a D grade for the season’s first month.

Joc Pederson’s first month of the 2017 season was a bag of mixed results. Joc only got 50 at-bats before he went on the disabled list with a groin injury, but in those 50 ABs, Pederson only hit one home run and posted a .663 OPS. While he only hit one home run, he was beginning to wallop the ball before his injury and had an average exit velocity of 94 miles per hour, which was the highest for any Dodger outfielder.

Last year Joc was in a strict platoon and sat almost all games against left-handed starting pitchers, but in April, Joc got fourteen at-bats against lefties. He actually hit better off lefties than he did against righties, as he hit .286 off lefties compared to a .194 average against right-handed pitchers.  Joc struck out 30% of the time last month, which was right on par with his career average of striking out 28% of the time.

One constant for Joc Pederson is that he will always provide an above-average defense that never slumps.  Joc did not commit a single error in April.

He also hit better when the Dodgers stuck him at the leadoff spot, posting a .429 average and .500 on-base percentage. Joc was also one of the better hitters with runners in scoring position with a .273 average.

Despite hitting the ball hard, Joc needs to produce more home runs and get on base more. It remains to be determined where the Dodgers will bat Joc when he returns because Andrew Toles has been the primary leadoff hitter lately, so one of them will get booted down in the order.  For the month of April Joc gets a C grade because he showed some flashes but needs to stay healthy and produce more.

After an abysmal 2016 season, utility man Kike Hernandez got off to a hot start in the season’s opening month. While the .234 average is a tad low for April, Kike posted a good .820 OPS with six doubles, one triple, and two home runs during the month. His two home runs happened to come off a left-handed pitcher, which is a great sign. Kike needs to be able to mash lefties and, despite a .207 average against southpaws, he made his hits count.

Kike was the main leadoff hitter when there was a left-handed starter on the mound, and he did his best work from the leadoff spot, as he hit .286 whenever he led off the Dodgers’ lineup. His OPS was over 1.000 in that spot so it’s clear that the Dodgers should bat Kike leadoff when they encounter the dreaded southpaws.

Hernandez posted a .234 BABIP (the major league average is around .290-.300) which means he was a bit unlucky getting hits to drop in.  As a result, his average should trend upward when his luck turns around.

Defensively, Kike played all three outfield positions in April and committed no errors while recording one outfield assist. Kike has the most versatility of any Dodger, which made him a valuable player with the early injuries the team faced in April. Despite a low batting average, Kike Hernandez did damage against lefties in April and get a B+ grade.

The ever enigmatic Yasiel Puig got off to a hot start in April before cooling down towards the end of the month. Puig tied with Andrew Toles for the most home runs among the Dodgers’ outfielders with five long balls. Puig also provided his usual rock solid defense, among which was this play where he gunned down Brandon Belt at home to save a run. This was a big play and momentum shifter due to the close and low-scoring nature that Giants-Dodgers matchups usually are, meaning every run is that much more valuable.

While Puig’s batting average was low at .236, he was very unlucky with a BABIP of only .225. He should see some hits start falling in soon, but he needs to quit trying to hit fly balls which is the biggest reason why his BABIP is so low.

Interestingly, Puig had much more of success batting lower in the order. He hit .500 batting sixth and .417 hitting eight in the order. However, hitting fourth or fifth in the order saw Puig hit below .200. If the Dodgers can keep him lower in the order, he will be more successful.

Another thing Puig needs to do a better job at is getting on-base. You’d like to see the on-base percentage of .327 he posted in April be much higher. Despite the amount of walks he took and the fact that his OBP was nearly 100 points higher than his batting average, his failure to collect base-hits is holding his OBP down.

As alluded to, he did show improved patience at the plate. He took more walks, and that started with doing a nice job of laying off the slider low and away that he has had trouble with throughout his career. For his five home runs, plate awareness, and solid outfield defense, Puig earned a B grade for the month of April. There is definitely room for improvement for the uber-talented player.

Coming into the 2017 season, perhaps no Dodger was a bigger question mark than Andrew Toles. After once being a top prospect, Toles found himself completely out of baseball before old friend Andrew Friedman brought him on board with the Dodgers. He excelled in his limited playing time last season, hitting a terrific .314 in 115 plate appearances.

In April, Toles provided the Dodgers with an unexpected power source, knocking out five home runs. All five of his home runs came from the leadoff spot, and he also posted an OPS of .870 from that position.

Toles is an interesting study no matter how you look at him. Despite having the lowest average exit velocity of any Dodger outfielder in April (84 MPH), he tied for the lead in home runs among their outfielders. Despite the surprising power, Toles hit just .239 in April and posted an on-base percentage below .300. Toles also failed to record a single stolen base despite possessing great speed on the base paths. Whether that is the coaching staff not trusting him to steal or Toles not trusting himself to steal, he needs to attempt to steal more bases.

Even though he heated up towards the end of the month, he was ineffective for the majority of April, which is why Andrew Toles gets a C- grade.

While the power was a pleasant surprise, the best case scenario for Toles is for him to be a sparkplug at the top of the order. Toles also needs to learn to work the count and not swing at the first pitch so often. Should Toles be able to get on-base more often and steal bases, he could be the leadoff threat the Dodgers have lacked for years.

Coming into the 2017 season, the Dodgers had high hopes that a healthy Scott Van Slyke could help solve their offensive woes against left-handed starters. In April, Van Slyke showed difficulty hitting any pitcher, whether they were right or left-handed. Van Slyke hit a disappointing .167 against lefties and an ugly .129 overall.

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His on-base percentage was only .250, and he had the second lowest exit velocity among Dodger outfielders, with an average exit velocity of 85 miles per hour. Only Andrew Toles, who is 5’9, had a weaker exit velocity than the 6’4 Scott Van Slyke.  While Scott has had some bad luck as evidenced by his BABIP of only .167, he struck out 33% of his at-bats. Not only that but he looked lost at the plate many times, and when he made contact he usually made weak contact, so do not put too much stock into his low BABIP.

While the Dodgers have struggled to hit with runners in scoring position as a team, Van Slyke also had his struggles with only one hit in seven tries. Even though most of his starts came against left-handed starters, he did not get a single hit off of a right-handed pitcher last month. He went 0-7 against them.

Next: April Rotation Grades

About the only thing Van Slyke did do well in April playing defense. In his 35 innings playing the outfield, Van Slyke did not commit a single error in April. The problem with that is Van Slyke is not on the team to be a defensive specialist because he is supposed to mash lefties. Due to his poor hitting performance in the first month of the season Van Slyke gets an F grade.