When the Dodgers called up Andy Pages to the majors early last season, one of the first things co-hitting coach Aaron Bates did was seek out veteran outfielder Teoscar Hernández.
That spring, Bates had watched a relationship blossom between Pages, a then 23-year-old prospect who had bounced back miraculously fast from a labrum surgery the previous season, and Hernández, an All-Star veteran who had signed with the club that winter at age 31 in search of a bounce-back performance.
All camp, Pages and Hernández were among the first to arrive at the batting cages each morning.