Dodgers: Grading the Outfield for the Month of April

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.