Joc Pederson may not keep in mind the full commerce package deal.

But the former Dodgers slugger received’t quickly neglect the first time he noticed Andy Pages’ swing.

A pair months in the past, whereas watching a Dodgers spring coaching sport, Pederson took rapid discover of Pages, the membership’s high outfield prospect. Coming away so impressed, Pederson texted some outdated mates in the membership’s entrance workplace.

“I said, ‘That’s different,’” recalled Pederson, now the designated hitter for the Arizona Diamondbacks. “That was the first time I’d ever seen him. … It just looked right.”

What Pederson didn’t notice then, and was solely reminded of just lately: Pages was as soon as almost traded by the Dodgers, reportedly a part of a nixed 2020 deal that will have despatched Pederson, Ross Stripling and a then-teenage Pages to the Angels.

“I had no idea,” Pederson mentioned, considerably shocked, “that kid was in the trade.”

Four years later, it’s a commerce that by no means occurred for the Dodgers that simply retains on giving.

Pages not solely stayed with the group after the commerce fell aside — the end result, largely, of impatience from Angels proprietor Arte Moreno — however is now blossoming in his first MLB season

Since being known as up on April 16, the 23-year-old is batting .333 with three residence runs and 11 RBIs. He has a nine-game hitting streak that has raised his on-base-plus-slugging proportion to .921. He produced his finest efficiency but on Friday, punctuating a four-hit sport in opposition to the Atlanta Braves with an Eleventh-inning walk-off single.

“It was really special because I haven’t been here for that long and I was able to accomplish that,” Pages mentioned by way of an interpreter postgame.

“He wasn’t going to let anyone else win that game for us tonight,” supervisor Dave Roberts added. “We trusted [his] head, trusted the talent, and, obviously, he just rose to the occasion.”

That has been the story of Pages’ journey, ranging from when the Dodgers signed the six-foot-tall Cuban prospect for $300,000 in 2017.

Always identified for his pure athleticism and highly effective swing, Pages hit 10 residence runs in his first yr of professional ball at the membership’s complicated in the Dominican Republic — “which, in those parks, and at that time,” Dodgers director of participant growth Will Rhymes recalled, “was pretty unique.” Pages’ manufacturing solely improved in 2019, when he had 19 residence runs and an OPS over 1.000 in rookie ball with the Dodgers affiliate in Ogden, Utah.

By then, Pages’ superior psychological strategy —-a trait simply as signature as his pre-swing leg-kick and bent-over posture at influence — was impressing Dodgers employees as a lot as something.

“In one of the first conversations I had with him back in 2019, I asked him about his leg kick, and we started talking about Justin Turner,” Rhymes mentioned, recalling how Pages in contrast his timing mechanism to that of the then-Dodgers star. “And he gave me this incredible breakdown of Justin Turner’s swing, how it functioned.”

Rhymes’ takeaway?

“Wow, this guy thinks about [the game] at a different level than most 19-year-olds.”

In a loaded Dodgers farm system filled with extra seasoned prospects, Pages wasn’t at all times their biggest-name expertise. In 2020, Baseball America ranked him as the No. 22 prospect in the group. MLB Pipeline pegged him at No. 14.

It was then that Pages’ identify surfaced in commerce talks between the Angels and Dodgers — who, on the verge of buying Mookie Betts and David Price from the Boston Red Sox in February 2020, had been attempting to create some wage aid.

While the key items of the deal had been Pederson and Stripling, Pages was additionally reported to be heading to Anaheim, in trade for infielder Luis Rengifo and a number of Angels prospects.

For per week after the information surfaced Feb. 4, the transfer was believed to be all however official.

“I was going to [salary] arbitration,” Pederson recalled, “and we didn’t know what team was going to show.”

On Feb. 9, nonetheless, all of it broke down in a wierd sequence of occasions.

Initially, the Angels commerce was held up whereas the Dodgers finalized Betts’ acquisition from the Red Sox.

In what began as a three-team transaction additionally involving Minnesota, Boston was supposed to get reliever Brusdar Graterol, however balked upon a assessment of his medical information. That pressured the Dodgers, Red Sox and Twins to reconfigure the deal, with Graterol in the end coming to Los Angeles and the Dodgers sending two different prospects — Jeter Downs and Connor Wong — to Boston as a substitute.

While all that was labored out — the Dodgers-Angels commerce was contingent on the Betts deal going by way of — Moreno, the Angels proprietor, began to develop pissed off.

And simply as the Dodgers lastly accomplished their blockbuster transfer for Betts, Moreno reportedly known as off the Pederson/Stripling/Pages settlement, later confirming that, whereas there have been different unspecified components at play, the five-day delay had gnawed at his persistence.

“It was a crappy feeling,” mentioned Pederson, who helped the Dodgers win the World Series that season earlier than leaving as a free agent. “But what are you gonna do?”

As Pages adopted the scenario, his feelings had been equally conflicted.

“It was really strange to see your name across the news,” Pages acknowledged.

“When the rumors were swirling,” Rhymes added, “he was pretty upset about it.”

The harm emotions, although, didn’t final lengthy. Pages continued his ascent up the minor-league ladder, hitting 31 homers in excessive Class A in 2021, and 26 extra in Class AA in 2022. The membership’s participant growth employees expressed their pleasure about his future.

“It gave us all a chance to renew our vows,” Rhymes mentioned. “He’s always been in the plans to be a big piece of this thing.”

Pages’ rise wasn’t solely linear.

At instances, he obtained too “uphill” in his swing mechanics, Rhymes mentioned, leaving Pages susceptible to pitchers who attacked up in the strike zone. Despite his 57 residence runs in 2021-2022, he batted simply .250 with 272 strikeouts.

Dodgers heart fielder Andy Pages makes a catch at the wall throughout a sport in opposition to the Nationals.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Last yr, Pages suffered a critical shoulder damage, when a torn labrum in his first profession triple A sport required season-ending surgical procedure in June.

“It was a tough blow, but from the moment it happened, he handled it extremely maturely,” Rhymes mentioned. “He was on a mission before the injury. And if anything, the injury just put on more of one.”

Once totally recovered from the process, Pages was a standout performer in Dodgers camp this spring, going eight for 17 with two residence runs and 9 RBIs.

The day he was optioned, Rhymes mentioned, was equally telling. Pages, who has developed right into a plus heart fielder defensively, went to minor-league camp and took 10 reside at-bats on a day coaches steered he take off.

“I knew going into the season how difficult it was going to be [to crack the majors] with so many talented players on the roster, so many superstars,” Pages mentioned. “I knew how much work was ahead of me.”

That translated to a blistering begin to the common season in triple A, with Pages batting .371 in 15 video games.

And between Jason Heyward’s again damage and James Outman’s early-season struggles, the Dodgers noticed the alternative to give Pages an early call-up.

His efficiency in the three weeks since have surpassed all expectations. Pages has ranked seventh in the National League in batting common since his arrival, and has almost as many RBIs (11) as strikeouts (13).

“He’s checking a lot of boxes,” Roberts mentioned. “He’s creating his own opportunities.”

President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman hasn’t recently indulged in recollections about the deserted Angels commerce.

“Not much,” he mentioned when requested how typically he has considered it amid Pages’ rise.

Instead, he famous the seamlessness of Pages’ big-league transition.

“We saw him make adjustments at the major league level his first week,” Friedman mentioned. “Teams were beating up top with fastballs. And now he’s either clearing those out or at least fouling them off. He gets another pitch. He just competes in the box.”

Veteran teammates have echoed related compliments.

“Today he showed that he’s made for the big moments,” Teoscar Hernández mentioned in the wake of Pages’ walk-off hit Friday night time. “He’s not afraid to go out there and have success.”

And when there was as soon as a time it regarded like Pages by no means would don a Dodgers jersey, his electrical begin has him seemingly poised to stick with the membership, as a key contributor in the outfield, for the lengthy haul.

“I know how great this team is,” Pages mentioned. “I always wanted to be a part of this.”