What a start to the season for rookie centerfielder Joc Pederson. He hit his 17th homerun on Wednesday, which was also his 5th straight game with a homerun.
Pederson's 17 bombs are good for a tie for third in Major League Baseball, but he only has 32 runs batted in to go with it. The ratio is way off. 14 of Pederson's 17 homeruns have come with no runners on base, that's the most in baseball. The reason being of course is because the pitcher and some of the club's worst hitters are hitting 8th and 9th in front of Pederson.
Pederson was moved to the leadoff spot because the Dodgers lacked options. That is no longer the case. Pederson has become an untraditional leadoff hitter but with the power display he has shown Don Mattingly has some other options.
Yasmani Grandal (.410) and Andre Ethier (.383) are showing the kind of OBP that makes them good candidates. It seems odd, I know, but the Dodgers have a young bat with power. They will simply score more runs giving Pederson more plate appearances with more runners on base.
Putting Pederson in at least the two-hole and the pitcher batting 8th makes a world of sense right now for the Dodgers. They are scoring runs, they're second in the National League, but there is any opportunity here to put the foot on the gas and score even more runs than they have this season.
