Anyone who witnessed the violent collision between Dodgers center fielder Joc Pederson and right fielder Yasiel Puig at Dodger Stadium on May 23 knows first hand that it was horrible. Not only were both players down for a considerable period of time, Pederson was bleeding from his forehead as he and Puig walked off the field, fortunately under their own power. Miraculously, Puig was able to make the catch for the third out of the 10th inning and somehow managed to hold onto the ball after the violent collision.

Although Puig was able to remain in the game, which the Dodgers eventually won in 13 innings by a score of 2-1 over the St. Louis Cardinals, Pederson did not fare so well. In fact, two days later, the Dodgers placed him on the seven-day concussion disabled list for what was indeed diagnosed as a concussion.

“It’s the most responsible thing to do for Joc,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts at the time.

That was twelve days ago.

Since then, Joc’s replacement – utility infielder / outfielder Chris Taylor – is 13-for-44 (.295) at the plate with two doubles, two home runs (one a grand slam), has scored 10 runs and has driven in seven. In fact, Taylor is now hitting .318 on the season, second only to Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner (.379), who himself is currently on the DL for a right hamstring strain. Taylor has also made several outstanding defensive plays in center field while committing only one error in 18 total chances for an impressive .944 fielding percentage.

Obviously, no one ever wants to see a baseball player get hurt, not ever. But the simple truth is that the Dodgers have done exceptionally well with Chris Taylor filling in for Joc Pederson in center field.
(Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)

Now granted, having played only 11 total games in center field in his combined 162-game / four-year MLB career is a ridiculously small sample size for Taylor compared to the 321 games that Pederson has played in center field over his four-year MLB career with an outstanding .988 fielding percentage. But it’s impossible to ignore the fact that Joc was hitting exactly .200 (21-for-105) with only two home runs, six doubles and 11 RBI’s when his head encountered Puig’s shoulder on May 23.

Speaking of May 23, since that fateful night – which by sheer coincidence was Joc Pederson Bobblehead Night – the Dodgers have gone 8-4 (.667) including a three-game sweep of the defending World Series champion Chicago Cubs at Dodger Stadium and a just-concluded seven-game road trip through St. Louis and Milwaukee that saw them take four of seven (.571).

The point to all of this is that even though Joc Pederson is unquestionably a better defensive center fielder than is Chris Taylor, the Dodgers have made it into first place in the NL West during Pederson’s absence, although they currently trail the Colorado Rockies by .5 games at the time of this writing. Additionally, Roberts told the media on Sunday afternoon that the 24-year-old Pederson would probably make several rehab appearances – most likely with the Advanced Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes – before he is reinstated from the disabled list.

In other words, it appears that the Dodgers are perfectly content with having 26-year-old Chris Taylor’s bat in their lineup every day than having Pederson’s Mendoza-line bat in there. They also appear to be perfectly content with Pederson taking all the time he needs – crafted or otherwise – before reinstating him from the seven-day DL.