Joc Pederson gave a seemingly mundane interview [above] to MLB.com today, talking about his personal development as a hitter and the rookie development camp going on this week in Los Angeles. Two things to keep in mind about what he said:
1. The hitting coach Pederson mentioned he’s been working with in Southern California, Johnny Washington, is a Long Beach native and a graduate of the Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) program. As of last year, Washington was the youngest coach in the Dodgers organization. That still could be the case this year, though the club hasn’t officially named its Dominican Summer League coaches. Washington turns 31 in May.
More to the point, Washington was recently named the fourth coach at Triple-A Oklahoma City, a big promotion from his job as the hitting coach with Class-A Great Lakes in 2014. He first worked with Pederson in 2011 as a coach for Rookie-level Ogden, to great success. Having a good rapport with one of the organization’s star prospects can certainly help a coach advance. If Pederson winds up at Triple-A to begin the season, they’ll be reunited in Oklahoma.
2. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly certainly allowed for the possibility that Pederson could begin the season in Triple-A if he doesn’t win the center-field job in spring training. “To me, in general, young guys don’t do real well sitting on the bench,” Mattingly said. “For Joc to be here, he should be playing a lot. If he’s going to be here in L.A., he should be playing a lot. It’s not going to do him any good to sit on the bench.”
Mattingly characterized center field as a competition in spring training among Pederson, Andre Ethier and Chris Heisey. He would seemingly prefer to keep Yasiel Puig in right field, where Puig played most of 2014.