This Dodger has more hits than whiffs -- and he's homered on back-to-back days!

WASHINGTON -- When the Dodgers came to Nationals Park last April, there was a real sense that Andy Pages' job was on the line. The young center fielder was scuffling, having gone 4-for-34 (.118) to start the season and displaying some troubling free-swinging tendencies.

That series, Pages was left out of the lineup for the opener, giving him a chance to reset. He showed signs of heating up upon his return to the starting nine, going deep on back-to-back days to close out the three-game set. And by the end of the month, Pages had rounded into form, reversing the narrative surrounding his performance from the first two weeks of the season.

What a difference a year makes. Pages came into this weekend's series at Nationals Park as the Dodgers' hottest hitter, and his torrid stretch at the plate continued through Saturday's 10-5 victory.

"I think at the start of the season, you're a little bit over-amped, a little bit over-excited, and you're out of the zone," Pages said through interpreter Juan Dorado. "And this year, I've been able to focus on pitches that I can handle, pitches in the zone. … I'm still aggressive, and I want to be aggressive, but I want to be aggressive in the zone."

Pages hit his second home run in as many days, this one a three-run blast off righty reliever Brad Lord in the fifth inning. Earlier in the contest, he singled, stole second and scored on an Alex Call RBI single in the third inning. The 25-year-old has recorded multiple hits in five straight games, having already eclipsed his previous career high of three (done twice in 2025).

For most of the young season, Pages has been hitting in the lower third of the order, underscoring just how deep this Dodgers lineup can be when it’s clicking at the plate.

"I think pitching against us would suck, for sure. Glad I don't have to do it," said starter Tyler Glasnow, who earned his first win after striking out nine across six innings of two-run ball. "I think talking to other guys even on other teams, there's just no break. There's no ‘pitch around this guy to get to this guy,’ because everyone is good at baseball."

Through eight games, Pages is hitting a blistering 15-for-30 (.500) with a 1.349 OPS. Notably, he's struck out only four times and swung and missed only 10 times -- five fewer than his total number of hits.

It's not particularly common to have more hits than whiffs over a full season. Fourteen players managed the feat last year (min. 500 plate appearances), none of them Dodgers. The last Dodger to do so was Mookie Betts in 2024 (130 hits, 123 whiffs).

Only time will tell if Pages can keep up this level of plate discipline over a full season. But even cutting down on the whiffs in this small season-opening sample is a sign of growth for Pages, who ranked in the 48th percentile with a 21.6% strikeout rate last year, according to Statcast.

"He's controlling the zone, he's fighting when he gets two strikes, he is hitting to all fields," manager Dave Roberts said. "Right now, he's showing he's a complete hitter."

He's certainly made an impression on his opponents.

"He's the best hitter on the planet right now, it seems like," Nationals manager Blake Butera said.

Last year, Dodgers hitting coaches emphasized the importance of making good swing decisions with Pages, who took the message to heart and spent much of the offseason and Spring Training working on his plate discipline. He hit off the Trajekt machine daily, with the aim of seeing pitches with a lot of movement.

Pages focused on one pitcher in particular during Spring Training.

"I focused a lot on the pitches that Paul Skenes was throwing just because this ball moves so much," Pages said. "And obviously, now that we're back at home, I start with him, but then I zone in on the starting pitcher for that evening."

Incidentally, Pages is 4-for-6 with a home run in three career games against Skenes.

Ballplayers tend to be a superstitious bunch, so Pages' teammates didn't necessarily want to get into the specifics of his hot start. But they still had high praise for the young outfielder.

"I don’t want to talk about it. Let’s just keep it going," Freddie Freeman said. "But it’s been an incredible start that you can only dream of."