Andy Pages' MLB debut with Dodgers felt like stroke of luck for 2 reasons

With the way Andy Pages was hitting in Triple-A before his MLB debut on Tuesday night, it was hard not to wonder if he could've made it to the bigs at the end of the season last year ... if a torn labrum hadn't ended his 2023 after just one game in Oklahoma City.

Despite the injury, Pages still jumped to No. 3 in the Dodgers' pipeline in 2024 (partially due to five of the six players ranked above him being traded away or no longer qualifying as prospects, but also because he was still projected to have an incredibly high ceiling). He was on the 40-man when spring training rolled around and mashed there, but he ended up back in Triple-A to start the season.

His spring training performance proved to be more than a fluke or a hot streak, because he promptly tore it up in OKC and got the big call to start on Tuesday as part of a game heavy on substitutes for the Dodgers.

He got his first MLB hit in his first at-bat on a first-pitch fastball, a pretty much perfect start to what will hopefully be a long career.

Before and after the debut, Dodgers writers reported on the combination of luck and very good timing that led to the moment.

Andy Pages slept through the literal call telling him he would be getting his MLB debut with the Dodgers

Jack Harris of The LA Times wrote that Triple-A manager Travis Barbary tried to reach Pages multiple times on Tuesday night starting at 9:30 PM to tell him he was booked to fly out of Oklahoma City the very next morning. Luckily, he woke up early and was able to scramble to get his things together and make it to LA.

MLB's Dodgers beat reporter Juan Toribio also shared that Pages was using a bat gifted to him by fellow Dodger Miguel Vargas, who in turn received it from veteran José Abreu. All three are Cuban (Pages even grew up in the same town as Randy Arozarena), and it certainly seemed to function as some kind of good luck charm in Pages' first at-bat.

It's unclear how long Pages will be staying in LA, but he got the start over Chris Taylor in the outfield for Wednesday afternoon's game. The Dodgers could be on their way to an interesting shakeup if he can keep performing well in the big leagues.