The video session that saved Joc Pederson’s career

A step backward in 2011 helped Dodgers rookie phenom Joc Pederson find that help that he needed to become the power hitter that he is today.

Picked by the Dodgers in the 11th round in the 2010 MLB Draft, Pederson had no power.

His father, Stu Pederson, who played a handful of games with the Dodgers in 1985, didn’t see Pederson as having real-game potential, even in high school.

Johnny Washington, a young minor league coach just getting his start with his new job, tried to give Pederson advice on improving his swing to become more of a power hitter.

Then he asked Pederson to find what worked for successful power hitters, and find the similarities in his own swing.

Pederson earned Pioneer League and Rookie League All-Star honors in 2011, was named the Dodgers’ Minor League Player of the Year in 2012, and played with the Israel national baseball team during the qualifying rounds of the 2013 World Baseball Classic.

During the Home Run Derby on Monday, Pederson beat out the Orioles’ Manny Machado in the first round, before besting Angels veteran Albert Pujols in the semifinals to face the eventual champion, Todd Frazier of the Cincinnati Reds.

Johnny Washington, who, Pederson said, always told Pederson he would take part in Home Run Derbies and become the prolific hitter he is today.

Pederson may not be hitting for average this season, and he needs to work on striking out less — he has struck out an NL-high 107 times in 89 games — but that power is there.

Had Washington given up, or if the Dodgers had simply released him when he didn’t produce for power, Pederson’s career might have been short-lived.