Andy Pages Just Might Be the Dodgers’ Next Homegrown Star

With the 2026 MLB season now in full swing, the Los Angeles Dodgers have gotten right back to business.

The Dodgers are currently 17-8, tied for first place in the NL West with the San Diego Padres. They have dropped a few games recently, going 3-4 in their last two series. Still, they currently own the second-best run differential in MLB with +55 runs and will likely continue to roll right along.

Granted, the Dodgers’ early success was far from unexpected. Coming off back-to-back World Series wins, expectations have arguably never been higher. To that effect, the Dodgers went out and signed two of the top free agents on the market this offseason in outfielder Kyle Tucker and closer Edwin Díaz.

These two join seven other Dodgers players with contracts valued at a $20M AAV or higher in 2026. Yet, despite this embarrassment of riches, their best player to begin the season is not among this group. 

Set to make right around $800k this year, outfielder Andy Pages has seemingly become a breakout star for the Dodgers. Despite his talent, has come as a bit of a positive surprise for Dodgers fans. 

While Pages had a solid showing in 2025, he ended the year on a significant decline. But his start to the 2026 season indicates he may be taking a sizable step forward.

Pages has begun the season as not only the best performer on his team, but across MLB at large. If the trend continues, he becomes the latest in a litany of homegrown players the Dodgers have developed into stars over the past decade.

Stats were taken prior to play on April 24.

Hot and Cold

Pages had shown flashes of his potential already. His 2024 rookie performance was relatively modest, as he put up 1.3 fWAR over 116 games, hitting .248/.305/.407 for a 98 wRC+.

He followed up this campaign with a substantive step forward in 2025. Pages put up 4.1 fWAR over 156 games, hitting .272/.313/.461 for a 113 wRC+. He also improved his defense significantly, becoming one of the premier outfielders in the league by year’s end.

However, these stats do not tell the whole story. While Pages’ overall results were positive, his performance was subject to peaks and valleys throughout the year. For instance, Pages hit .292/.331/.516 with a 133 wRC+ through June 21 in 2025.

Conversely, Pages hit .253/.295/.419 with a 97 wRC+ from June 22 onwards. During this stretch, Pages’ strikeout rate rose by nearly seven percent, and he struggled to get on base with the same consistency.

This slump was made glaringly apparent once October rolled around. Pages disappeared at the plate throughout the Dodgers’ postseason run. Over 16 postseason games, Pages hit .078/.113/.098, notching just four hits over 55 plate appearances.

With the exception of an incredible catch at the warning track to send Game 7 to extra innings, Pages was effectively a non-factor in the Dodgers’ championship run. Given this, it was reasonable for fans to have some concerns for his level of play going into 2026.

So, Pages worked hard this past offseason to right the ship. And boy, has it paid off.

A Monumental Beginning

The first signs of life for Pages began during spring training.

Expectations were high for Pages to begin preseason play. While his defensive work had seen major improvements, his offense needed to take a step forward for him to remain effective.

Thankfully for Pages (and Dodgers fans), he got off to a great start. Through 54 plate appearances during spring training, Pages hit .340/.370/.500. He cut his strikeout rate back down to 18.5%, and brought his on-base percentage back up to par.

Overall, he averaged an .870 OPS and a 126 wRC+ in this limited stretch. Spring training stats are rarely predictive, but these positive results were hard to ignore. Fans rightfully became excited at the notion that Pages may have found his swing once again.

Through the first stretch of 2026, Pages did not disappoint.

Pages has hit .353/.404/.576 to start 2026, already with five home runs and 21 RBIs. He has also stolen four bases. Paired with his excellent defense, Pages has produced 1.2 fWAR in only 94 plate appearances.

Early this year, Pages peaked at a whopping 1.349 OPS through his first 31 plate appearances, hitting .500/.516/.833 in the process. The only qualified hitter with a higher wRC+ than Pages (280) over the same stretch was Yordan Alvarez (282), having a monster year in his own right. 

Pages’ start is not without cause for concern. He’s trudging through another cold stretch over the past eight games, hitting just .200/.300/.200 over this span (52 wRC+). In spite of this, there is plenty to suggest that his start might be different from his hot start the previous year.

Star in the Making?

For starters, Pages seems to have made significant strides with his underlying offensive metrics.

While he did improve offensively from 2024 to 2025, most of his improvement was defensive. By year’s end, Pages graded out with a 95th-percentile fielding run value. Yet, while not necessarily bad, his offensive metrics still suggested room for improvement.

Pages finished the year with a .316 xwOBA, .258 xBA, and .428 xSLG — all relatively similar to the year prior. Even with his actual results showing improvement, this suggests that Pages’ results may have been somewhat attributable to overperformance.

This year, the story is completely different. Pages currently owns a .368 xwOBA, .302 xBA, and .474 xSLG, placing him in the 79th, 93rd, and 79th percentile for each category, respectively.

Similarly, his hard-hit rate and average exit velocity have skyrocketed. In 2025, Pages maintained an average exit velocity of 88.6 mph, identical to his 2024 campaign, and a 37.2% hard-hit rate.

The difference is clear when you compare it to his 2026 numbers. Pages currently has a 56.5% (!) hard-hit rate, and his average exit velocity is up three ticks at 91.6 mph. These figures have been bumped from the 24th and 28th percentile to the 95th and 79th percentile, respectively.

Even more impressive is that he’s accomplished these improvements without a noticeable increase in bat speed or barrel rate. His approach is largely unchanged for the most part, yet both his expected and actual results have shifted dramatically.

Pages’ improved performance has notable implications for how high his ceiling truly may be. After all, he is still just 25 years old. Whether Pages can hold his pace remains to be seen, but Dodgers fans sure seem to have plenty more to be excited about moving forward.