Dodgers: Joc Pederson is Quietly Having a Career Year

Over the last 10 games, the Dodgers have gone 7-3 and still sit in first place in the NL West.  With a lot of the attention being focused on Cody Bellinger, another player has quietly put together a stretch in which he’s been LA’s hottest hitter.

Joc Pederson has been on a tear, that many Dodgers fans and baseball fans may be overlooking.  In Pederson’s last 10 games, he is hitting .429 with an OPS of 1.341. He has three home runs and has driven in eight runs.

In the current series with the New York Mets, he has five hits and one home run. His most impressive game during the streak came on May 29, when he worked a full-count and began a rally that won the game for the Dodgers in the ninth. He hit a home run off of Edwin Diaz, arguably the best closer in baseball.

Two weeks ago, Dodgers Way’s Michael Wittman wrote about the career-best home run rate in which Joc is blasting home runs.  Since then, Joc’s home run rated has only dipped a small amount going from 9.1 at-bats per home run to 9.6

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There is no doubt that Pederson has had his fair share of struggles this year. He is still unplayable against lefties, having only started one game against a left-handed pitcher. In his career, he is hitting .182 against them, and only .190 this year.

Although Pederson has his setbacks, it is not stopping him from having a career year. He currently holds the seventh-highest OPS in all of baseball, at 1.019.  He is hitting .268 on the year, which is a career best. On top of that, his on-base percentage (.372) and slugging percentage (.647) are career highs as well.

What has been most impressive, is that Pederson has been doing this from the leadoff spot. He has led a game off with a homer three times this season. According to Stats by STATS, his 16 home runs out of the leadoff spot are the most in NL history prior to June 1st.

With Pederson heating up, we can only expect great things. If you would want to see him go up against the best players in the game, make sure to vote for him to make the All-Star Team Roster at MLB.com.