A Dee-ceptive Start

Dee Gordon returned to Los Angeles this week for the first time since being traded to Miami. In his first at bat, the Dodger faithful gave him a standing ovation, and rightfully so, he was a great contributor to the Dodgers last season and a stand up player both on and off the field. In his first two games back in LA, Gordon failed to collect a hit before going 4 for 5 in the final game of the series raising his MLB leading batting average to an unbelievable .426.

After the absolute stunning start to the season for Dee Gordon, many Dodger fans may be questioning the decision made by the Dodger brass to trade him. However, the Dodgers’ new second baseman, Howie Kendrick, is also having a solid start to the season. Strong starts aside, Kendrick and Gordon are two very different hitters, while Gordon will hit at the top of the order for the majority of his career; Kendrick has spent the early part of his Dodger career in the third or fourth spot of the lineup.

Mostly due to his staggering batting average, Gordon has a higher On Base Percentage (.452) compared to Kendrick’s .368. However, the importance of getting on base is that it should lead to runs and Gordon has only scored one more run than Kendrick, 20 and 19 respectively. In addition, while Gordon has compiled 12 RBIs to date, impressive for a leadoff hitter, Kendrick has accumulated 17 hitting in the 3rd and 4th spots of a potent Dodger offense. So ultimately, Kendrick has been responsible for 36 Dodger runs while Gordon has been responsible for 32 Marlin runs. When looking at it from this perspective, the two players are comparable, but Kendrick is generally believed to be a far superior defensive second baseman at this point in his career, which gives him the edge over Gordon.

On the other hand, Dodger fans might argue that the loss of Dee Gordon as a leadoff hitter is detrimental to the team’s success. Yet, Dodger fans can rest easy for now because it seems that the team has found an answer in young Joc Pederson. At first glance fans would compare Gordon’s batting average of .426 to Pederson’s batting average of .243 and say that it’s a no brainer that they would prefer to have Gordon back at the top of the lineup, but look deeper into the numbers and one would see the Pederson is a very valuable asset at the top of the line up. As mentioned earlier, on base percentage is important because it leads to runs and scoring runs is the name of the game. Gordon’s OBP of .452 is comparable to Pederson’s OBP of .401. The reason for this is the simple fact that Pederson draws walks and Gordon does not. Pederson has already been walked 28 times while Gordon only has 8. Since no pitcher is afraid to throw strikes to Gordon, he is forced to hit his way on base. If Gordon finds himself in a slump, his Batting Average and OBP will fall. On the other hand, if a pitcher throws a fastball down the middle to Pederson, he could find himself losing a game before all the fans are in their seats (Pederson already has 10 home runs). Furthermore, Pederson has piled up 21 RBIs and 24 runs scored for the Dodgers, topping Gordon in both categories.

So, to answer a few questions. . . Is Dee Gordon having a great start? Yes. Would Dee Gordon be helping the Dodgers win games? Yes. Are the Dodgers really missing him? Not really. This is in no way a knock against Gordon, I absolutely wish him the best and think he is an exciting player to watch, but I am very happy with what the Dodgers have in place of him.