For the second time in as many days, Dodgers rookie center fielder Joc Pederson wasn’t in the Dodgers starting lineup on Saturday against the Anaheim Angels of Anaheim.

Conventional wisdom suggests that Dodgers manager Don Mattingly was simply keeping his All-Star center fielder out of the starting lineup because of pitching match-ups against Angels left-handers Hector Santiago and Andrew Heaney, but prior to Saturday’s 3-1 win over the Angels, the Dodgers skipper acknowledged that there was more to it than just that.

“I think as much as anything, [Pederson] just gets a chance to watch the game,” Mattingly said during his Saturday morning pregame media briefing. “A lot of times you don’t realize that you’re… you see so much more when you don’t have to try to perform that day.

“As much as anything, young guys get caught up and their mind starts going over all kinds of stuff,” Mattingly added. “So it’s just a day to let everything calm down and it ends up being a couple days to let things calm down, and be able to do some work and not have to try to go out and then use it right away. So it’s just a day to really just come back to reality.”

Even though sitting Pederson for three games isn’t punishment for his struggles at the plate, it’s probably safe to say that Joc might see it as such. (Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)

Although Mattingly wouldn’t say exactly what work his young superstar has been doing, taking extra batting practice on the field apparently wasn’t part of it. Over the past week several struggling (and rehabbing) Dodger players were already on the field taking extra BP when the media arrived. Noticeably absent from this group was the one guy who has been struggling the most – Joc Pederson. And while the 23-year-old Palo Alto, CA native has undoubtedly been doing extra work in the indoor batting cage, one would think that he would join Yasiel Puig and A.J. Ellis (among others) getting in some extra hacks in the on-field batting cage during early BP.

What does Mattingly hope Pederson is gaining by watching the games from the dugout rail instead of actually being on the field?

“I just want him to watch the game and just watch it, just be part of the club without having to go do something,” Mattingly said. “And just like sometimes you can’t see the forest for the trees, you get too close to it and you don’t really get to see the big picture. I just want him to see the big picture.”

With the Halos sending right-handed reliever Cory Rasmus to the mound in Sunday’s series finale as a spot starter for left-hander C.J. Wilson, who announced on Saturday morning that he will undergo season-ending elbow surgery, Pederson is back in Sunday’s starting lineup. Whether or not the work and/or observing he did will help the young outfielder remains to be seen; but if it does not, the obvious (and unpleasant) next step would be to send Pederson and his 125 strikeouts – second most in the MLB – back to Triple-A Oklahoma City where there aren’t as many trees through which to see the forest.