Here’s a change: Pierre on the bench

Even though he was held out of the lineup for only the second time this season, Juan Pierre said he wasn’t about to modify his hitting style to avoid the rash of fly balls and quick-out at-bats that have recently plagued him.

“I just take the same approach in my drills every day,” Pierre said before the Dodgers played the San Diego Padres on Thursday night at Petco Park. “I haven’t changed or worked any different.”

Pierre was hitting .243 during the 10-game trip and had only one hit in eight at-bats in the Dodgers’ previous two games against the Padres before Thursday. His low point came Tuesday, when he went hitless in four at-bats -- hitting three pop flies -- while seeing only seven pitches.

Is keeping the same approach the right way for Pierre to break out of his slump?

“Every player in the major leagues that has any success at all is very consistent in their work habits, and he is very consistent in his work every day,” Dodgers Manager Grady Little said. “I just think he needs to get some better results than what he’s getting right now, and he will.”

Little said he removed Pierre from the lineup Thursday to give him a chance to regroup and because he was only two for 18 in his career against Padres starter Jake Peavy. Rafael Furcal was back in the leadoff spot, with Tony Abreu hitting second and Brady Clark replacing Pierre in center field.

Pierre entered the game as a defensive replacement in center in the eighth inning, but he never got up to the plate.

Pierre, hitting .269 overall with a .298 on-base percentage, said consistency was the key.

“I’m aware of when I’m not doing well and I’m aware of if I do hit the ball in the air,” he said. “I don’t want to make it bigger than what it is because it is a big thing when you’re not playing well and you’re not feeling like you’re helping the team by getting on base and things like that.

“But I can’t overanalyze it. That would just lead myself into a bigger hole.”

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The Dodgers were pleasantly surprised that Christopher Withrow was still available when they selected the right-hander from Odessa (Texas) Midland Christian High with the 19th pick in the first round of the amateur draft.

“He’s got a very good delivery and some of the best arm action I’ve been able to see since I’ve been scouting,” Dodgers assistant general manager Logan White said. “I think he’s got a chance to be a good major league pitcher.”

Withrow, a 6-foot-3, 195-pounder who went 8-1 with a 1.32 earned-run average and 90 strikeouts in 58 innings last season, said he wanted to follow the path of recent Dodgers draftees such as Chad Billingsley and Jonathan Broxton who made a quick ascent to the major leagues.

The Dodgers used four of their six picks on pitchers on the first day of the draft, also selecting Tennessee left-hander James Adkins with the 39th pick. Adkins posted a 2.85 ERA with 119 strikeouts in 107 innings as a junior and holds the Volunteers’ career record for strikeouts.

Among the other players the Dodgers drafted were a pair of locals in Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley High left-hander Michael Watt (second round) and Newbury Park High outfielder Andrew Lambo (fourth round).

Third baseman Austin Gallagher, the Dodgers’ third-round pick from Lancaster (Pa.) Manheim Township High, impressed team scouts during a Dodger Stadium workout in which he repeatedly launched balls into the pavilion seats.

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ben.bolch@latimes.com