Joc Pederson News: Epic slump continues

Pederson went 0-for-3 in Friday's 3-0 loss to the Dodgers.

Season-opening slumps tend to get more attention than ones in the middle of a season, but there's no sugar-coating Pederson's futility. Following Friday's game, he's 0-for-his-last-36 and is batting .057. If he qualified he would be last in the majors. To Pederson's credit, the slump hasn't resulted in him chasing -- his 24.8 chase percentage is below league average and less than his career norm (27.6). He is, however, topping a lot of balls and is experiencing a spike in groundball rate (56.4). Texas manager Bruce Bochy is standing behind the slugger and continues to put him third or fourth in the lineup.