By Scott Barancik, Editor
When Dodgers rookie Joc Pederson hit home runs #8 and #9 against the Brewers last night, it wasn’t just the first multi-dinger night of his young career. The two jacks also marked a remarkable run of power: all seven of Pederson’s hits since the 6th inning of an April 27 game have been home runs, six of them solo, one a grand slam.
The 23-year-olds’s nine home runs left him tied for the N.L. lead with Dodgers teammate Adrian Gonzalez and Cincinnati’s Todd Frazier. On average, Pederson has homered every 9th at-bat this season, tops in the league.
Pederson’s overall performance since his seven-homer streak began is a microcosm of what the center fielder was expected to bring to the plate in Los Angeles, and what he has brought to date. Over that period, Pederson came to bat 34 times, hitting 7 HRs, knocking in 10 runs, walking 6 times, and striking out 13 for a batting average of .250.
That style — feast (HR), famine (K), or something in-between (BB) — led one columnist to joke that Pederson was the reincarnation of Dave Kingman, a notorious homer-or-whiff king from the 1970s, except for the walks. More importantly, Pederson’s game has landed him on the N.L. leaderboard in multiple offensive categories.
- At-bats per HR: 9.0 (1st)
- On-base plus slugging, or OPS: 1.090 (2nd)
- Slugging: .667 (2nd)
- Walks: 21 (3rd)
- Strikeouts: 34 (4th)
- Offensive Wins Above Replacement, or WAR: 1.4 (6th)
- RBI: 18 (7th)
- OBP: .423 (9th)
Of course, as anyone who watched his catch at the wall in last night’s two-homer game might suspect, Pederson also has starred on the field. He is tied for 3rd among N.L. center fielders in assists (3) and total zone runs (5).
Perhaps the only respect in which Pederson has fallen short of expectations so far is base-stealing. Though he stole 30 in Triple-A last year, he has failed in 3 of 4 attempts in 2015.
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