Joc Pederson discreetly leading the Dodgers into October

He’s the only Dodger with eight home runs this month. He’s not Cody Bellinger, and he’s not Will Smith. He’s not even Corey Seager. He is Joc Pop.

And since September 1, he really has lived up to that moniker for the Dodgers. Adding 40 points of slugging percentage, Pederson collected three multi-homer games this month. He has knocked in 14 runs while scoring 16 perched atop the Dodger order. He also has seven walks to counteract his 12 strikeouts. This really is the best version of Joc anyone has seen since the first half, and more specifically since his seven-homer May.

If Pederson can stay hot through the rest of the season, he’ll certainly maintain his place leading off for one of the best offenses in the National League.

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The walks, a function of his plate discipline, have helped him see more pitches and in turn record more hits, don’t seem to be a fluke either. Pederson walked nine times in July and eight times in August. Good versions of Joc take plenty of walks because good versions of Joc are nothing like the free-swinging version that strikes out at least once a game.

More impressive than the home runs or the walks to me though is the consistency with which he’s been hitting. Pederson collected hits in 11 different games this month to help raise his season average from .236 to .249.

Put all of it together, and JocPop’s triple-slash in September is a ridiculous .365/.443/.904, placing him in first place in September slugging percentage by nearly 100 points over the next closest slugger, the Reds’ Eugenio Suarez and his .808 SLG, who has 10 home runs and 30 runs+RBI this month.

Part of the difference is that Pederson still is a platoon player, even if he is on the strong side of the platoon. Continuing the Suarez comparison, the Reds’ third baseman has 85 plate appearances compared to Pederson’s 62. That is the difference between a valuable everyday contributor and Pederson, whose defense and lefty splits have kept him away from an everyday role in 2019 and even over the last few seasons.

Is there room for hope in that area though? Pederson hit .400 off of lefties this month. Sure, it was in just five plate appearances, but those five saw Joc double and single, more than many would have expected him to do.

If Pederson can slug his way into the lineup for the rest of the month and into the playoffs, he may very well remind Dodger fans of the Pederson who homered in the World Series against the Astros, a playoff version Joc any fan would surely get behind.