Dodgers: Is Joc Pederson Getting Hot Again

There are few hitters who are as streaky as Joc Pederson. When he is cold he grounds out a lot to the second or first baseman. When he is hot he hits home runs and gets more walks. For the last couple of months Joc has been very cold until very recently. We looked at how Joc was doing before the Home Run Derby (he was already slumping) and now we’ll see if he might be getting hot again.

The Streakiness

I looked at some of Joc Pederson’s high and low points during the season from his game log on Baseball Reference and extracted the data at some of those points. One important point is that there are plenty of games where Joc only had one or two at bats in a game due to the strict platooning for him. He can be pulled early for a right-handed batter or vice versa.

Games 1-11

The statistics include an excellent first three games that ended with not getting hits in the last eight games during this period. In this period he slashed .212/.386/.515 (AVG/OBP/SLG) with most in the first three games.

Games 12-22

The next set of 11 games that Pederson played in were a bit more consistent as he slashed .250/.341/.722. He only didn’t hit in four of the games while popping 5 home runs. So, after 22 games played he has eight home runs into the season with a decent OBP and an excellent Slugging Percentage.

Games 23-35

The next 13 games saw Pederson take another dip as he failed to get a base hit in nine of those games. He ended up slashing just .200/.263/.429 with 2 home runs and struck out 12 times in 35 at bats.

Games 36-52

The next 17 games saw Joc go on his best streak of the year so far. He slashed .377/.468/.868 in 53 at bat with 7 home runs. Another sign of how good he was; he struck out just 10 times, walked 8 times with 15 runs scored. When Joc has a streak like this he helps carry the team. Streaks like this aren’t very frequent but if he had one like this in late October the Dodgers could flourish.

1?5? for @yungjoc650.

Today's #Dodgers High-Flying Homers presented by @emirates: https://t.co/IaQTj9p2HI pic.twitter.com/JvELg7rLns

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 26, 2019

Games 53-72

Over the next 20 games Joc went from a great hot streak to stone-code bad. After his previous excellent 17 games he went on to slash just .134/.183/.282. He struck out 14 times in 67 at bats but walked only 3 times. In the 20 games he played he had 12 without any hits.

Games 73-102

The previous 20 games were so bad that they deserved their own section but the next 30 weren’t much to be pleased with either. In 100 at bats he slashed .220/.310/.350 with 30 strikeouts (that’s 30% of the time) with 11 walks. One factor within this period was that in game 77 he started his disastrous run of learning first base. This didn’t end until the 97th game of the season. This was a tough time for Pederson and everyone else who cared about the Dodgers.

Games 103-107

It’s only five games and is the last few games before this article was written but it looks like Pederson is starting another hot streak. In 13 at bats he’s slashed .462/.533/.769 with just 2 strike outs. The big question, will he continue his hot streak for sustained period of time or will he end up hitting another slump soon?

¡@yungjoc650 con el JOCOTAZO! ?#LosDodgers pic.twitter.com/7xyTrQa5JF

— Los Dodgers (@LosDodgers) August 6, 2019

Final Analysis

Joc Pederson is one of the streakiest players I’ve ever seen. When Andrew Friedman spoke about wanting a more consistent offense I was sure Joc would be traded this last off-season. Instead he has stuck around has continued his streaky ways. Getting Joc back into the outfield will only help him. I believe the Dodgers are gambling that Joc will get hot at the right time in October. If he is hot during late October, he can help carry the team. If he’s on a cold streak he becomes almost an automatic out. I wish he were more consistent but I don’t expect him to change. Maybe the hot streaks can continue a bit longer but it will just be a matter of getting lucky with some timing in the post-season.