Dodgers: Joc Pederson Practicing at First Base and Preparing for Added Versatility
Undeniably, Joc Pederson has been a good time with the Los Angeles Dodgers during the 2019 season. On Tuesday night, he led off the game against the San Francisco Giants with his 19th home run of the season. Furthermore, his OPS sits at .903 on the season.
With Pederson’s offensive production cementing him in a role of ‘bat that needs to be in the lineup’, and a plethora of bodies; the Dodgers have some shuffling of deck furniture to do.
In the hope that they can maximize their resources offensively upon A.J. Pollock’s return, the Dodgers must get creative somewhere. Now, J.P. Hoornstra of the OC Register details Pederson preparing to move to first base some of the time.
#Dodgers notes: Joc Pederson's first base experiment is getting ready to leave the laboratory: https://t.co/h3K08uMsr9
— J.P. Hoornstra (@jphoornstra) June 19, 2019
First and before I get into what was said – I want to credit our fearless leader Clint Pasillas – more affectionately known as ‘FRG’. It was sometime in the winter months when he told me not to be surprised if Pederson was moved to first base to keep his bat in the lineup. While I agreed it was a novel idea, I didn’t know if we would see it come to fruition.
Well, here we are.
Pederson has played every inning of his big league career (8,237 of them) in the outfield. So what does his manager Dave Roberts think of the possibility? He believes we will see it, is what.
“We’re ramping it up,” Roberts said. “I don’t know when it’s going to happen, but we do see him playing first base. … Just to have that option, I think it just makes us a better club.”
Since Pederson has provided a positive defensive value as an outfielder, one figures unless something goes terribly wrong; he should be able to handle the simplicity of first base. After all, we have all seen less capable athletes at that position. Equally important, Pederson is excited about this move.
“Once A.J. went down and Alex started to perform, then it’s kind of a real conversation,” Roberts said. “(Pederson) is actually more excited about playing first base than I’ve seen him excited about anything outside of hitting a homer.”
Finally, this makes decent sense. Los Angeles has shown good ability in the recent past to shuffle their versatile position players to maximize their chances at success in a given match-up. Consider this one more cog in the wheel that could add another wrinkle that makes them tougher to beat.
Truly, you never know when another late-inning door opens in the postseason due to the fact that Pederson can slide to first base. File that in your memory bank and see how this plays out.
How do you like Joc Pederson playing first base?
How do you feel about the Dodgers moving Pederson to first base? Do you feel like this will be a short-term move that is quickly scrapped, or will it have some degree of success for Los Angeles? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
versatility is so important in todays baseball. short benches means, when a pinch hitter comes in, everybody needs to fit defensively to avoid replacing your pinch hitter with a defensive move. We have seen it many times where a pinch hitter comes in and stays in the game, then 3 or four guys shift around to fit defensively. just another little thing Pederson can do to get in the game and stay in the game.
Great idea the players that we would have at one time that can take it deep will be the best that we have had in many seasons.Now can Andrew get us a Quality Bullpen Pitcher and not another player off the scrap heap.
If given a chance Joc can stay in the game if he can somehow learn to hit better against LHP, such as Bellinger, Muncy and Verdugo have.
Love the idea. Maybe watching from a different vantage will teach him something about hitting a LHP.
This is a great idea. It would be a great way to solve the outfield logjam. That’s if Pollock comes back, plays well, and doesn’t get hurt again (I know 3 big ifs). It would keep Bellinger in right field. Freese would still get his starts and Muncy could concentrate on 2nd and the occasional start at 3rd. It would be cool if they brought back AGon to help Joc with the transition.
i think its a good move it keeps his bat in the line up and with AJ coming back our batting line up will be dangerous
Not that most here don’t already know this, but tonight against Bumgarner, Joc will be sitting.
Lets just ease Joc into the first base position and then transition him there full time. AS PaulDodger Fan1965 stated in a post on another page, Joc has earned this move if he can hit LHP with more consistency than in the past. Go Blue!!!