The Los Angeles Dodgers are led by superstars Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, but their supporting cast includes rising young talent in the form of Will Smith and Andy Pages.
In the case of Smith, he’s established himself as one of the best catchers in baseball and perhaps second to only Cal Raleigh of the Seattle Mariners.
Meanwhile, Pages is putting together a tremendous sophomore season after going through a prolonged slump. Pages had a strong start to the year but the month of May saw significant regression. He’s turned the corner in June and garnered plenty of buzz for a first career All-Star Game selection.
“It would be amazing. It would be a great feat,” Pages said through an interpreter. “But it’s out of my hands. If I get in there, it would be awesome. If I don’t, it’s nothing I can control.”
Pages has also mentioned that a potential spot on the National League team is “not something I think about” and noted it’s out of his control with respect to voting.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts earlier this month said Pages was playing at an All-Star caliber level.
“He’s just really swinging the bat well. Confidence is a big thing, and he’s playing with a lot of confidence. He is playing like an All-Star,” Roberts said.
Pages enters play on Sunday batting .292/.331/.516 with 12 doubles, 16 home runs and 52 RBI. He’s already established new career highs in home runs and RBI, which were previously 13 and 46, respectively.
Pages has additionally been a force defensively, showing marked improvement in center field this season and also performing well whenever filling in at either corner position.
“It’s been huge. He has confidence now. Sometimes when you’re not hitting really good, and especially when you’re young, you don’t give that extra focus that you need on defense,” Teoscar Hernández recently said of his teammate.
“He’s doing a great job.”
When MLB released the first voting update for the 2025 All-Star Game at Truist Park, it revealed Ohtani, Freeman and Hernández as being on track to potentially start.
Pages was ranked seventh among NL outfielders in fan voting, which would not result in advancing to the second round to determine starters.
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