Dodgers to promote top 100 prospect

Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Andy Pages.

The Dodgers are calling up top outfield prospect Andy Pages, as first reported by Francys Romero. The 23-year-old is already on L.A.’s 40-man roster, so they’ll only need to make a corresponding 26-man move, though it’s possible his promotion still leads to a 40-man move.

Speculatively speaking, fellow outfielder Taylor Trammell could be at risk with Pages’ ascension to the big leagues, and Trammell is a recent waiver claim who’s out of minor league options.

Pages currently ranks as baseball’s No. 94 overall prospect at MLB.com and No. 95 overall at Baseball America. He garnered additional top-100 fanfare heading into the 2023 season but saw his stock take a bit of a hit due to injury troubles. His 2023 campaign ended when he underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder in early June.

That injury came on the heels of Pages’ first promotion to Triple-A. He appeared in just one game with the Dodgers’ Oklahoma City affiliate but had turned in a stout .284/.430/.495 batting line in 142 Double-A plate appearances. The righty-swinging Pages has obliterated Triple-A pitching in the early stages of the 2024 season, tallying 73 plate appearances and recording a .371/.452/.694 slash with five homers, three doubles, a triple, two steals, an 11% walk rate and a 17.8% strikeout rate.

Pages draws praise for his raw power — which couples nicely with a swing and approach geared for lifting the ball — and plate discipline. He can play all three outfield positions, though scouting reports at BA and MLB.com suggest he profiles best in a corner, where he has the speed and instincts to be a capable defender.

The Dodgers’ outfield currently features Teoscar Hernandez in right, with a combination of James Outman, Enrique Hernandez, Chris Taylor and the aforementioned Trammell rounding things out in the other two spots. Jason Heyward is currently on the injured list with a lower back issue, though when healthy, he and Hernandez can be expected to roam the corners most days. Pages could potentially serve as a righty-hitting complement to Heyward and/or Outman, though it shouldn’t come as a surprise if the Dodgers plan to get him more regular work than the short side of a platoon.

Given the timing of the promotion, Pages can’t accrue a full year of big league service time in 2024 — at least not solely by remaining on the roster. Because he was regarded as a top-100 prospect by multiple outlets, he’d qualify for a full year of service time if he finishes in the top two in this year’s National League Rookie of the Year voting. Barring that — and pending future optional assignments bac to the minors, which are a firm possibility — Pages will be controllable all the way through 2030. If he’s in the big leagues to stay, he’ll be a surefire Super Two player who’s eligible for arbitration four times, rather than the standard three, beginning in the 2026-27 offseason.

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