Boston Red Sox Second Basemen Dustin Pedroia Confident In Returning To Majors Saying “I’m ready to go”
Pawtucket, R.I.- Boston Red Sox second basemen Dustin Pedroia made his 4th rehab appearance for the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox on Wednesday night.
Pedroia went 0-for-3 with a walk and played 7 innings of errorless baseball at second base.
The 34-year-old second basemen underwent offseason knee surgery that has kept him out of action for the last six months and has delayed his start to the 2018 season. Pedroia was assigned to his 20-day rehab assignment with Pawtucket back on May 14th.
Given that 20-day timeline of activation, the latest he could be activated is on June 3rd. But signs do indicate an earlier call-up than that with Pedroia potentially in line to rejoin the Boston Red Sox as early as this Friday. After the game, the second basemen was very confident that he is ready to be back in Boston.
I felt great, timings just a little bit off. No I felt great, I had long at-bats, fouled pitches, yeah it felt good.
Pedroia found value in his long at-bats as he was “searching to find it a little bit, so that helps. But no, I am pretty excited, I felt good, moving around really well. I am right there.”
Dustin Pedroia’s First At-Bat
In his first at-bat, Pedroia fouled off a number of 96 mph fastballs before grounding out to the second basemen on the 6th pitch of the at-bat.
It appeared that the starter, Justus Sheffield, targeted Pedroia middle in trying to overpower him with his fastball. Pedroia was able to work the count and get the barrel on the ball three times in the at-bat. Clearly timing still an issue but that is going to come in time with the 34-year-old still 100 at-bats or so behind everyone else.
Dustin Pedroia’s Second At-Bat
In the former MVP’s second at-bat of the night, Pedroia worked a 5 pitch walk and had to take a couple of really close pitches to earn the free pass.
Pitch tracker had several of the called balls as strikes and having sat right behind the plate for this at-bat they were certainly tough pitches to lay off and could have been called either way.
Dustin Pedroia’s Third At-Bat
For the third at-bat, Pedroia once again worked the count only to ground out on a hard hit ground ball to the shortstop.
Pedroia faced 8 pitches in the at-bat and once again fouled off multiple times with 2 fouls with his timing just off but clearly still has the ability to get his bat around quickly on the fastball.
Dustin Pedroia’s Fourth At-Bat
In his fourth and final at-bat of the night for former Rookie of the Year struck out on 5 pitches with the final pitch being a foul tip caught by the catcher.
Pedroia looked overpowered by the fastball in this at-bat with Harvey challenging Pedroia.
Defensively Pedroia Looking Smooth
The four-time Rawlings Gold Glove winner saw his first defensive opportunity in the top of the 1st inning with two plays.
One was covering second base for the throw in from the outfield and the other was fielding a ground ball and throwing it over to Sam Travis at first base to end the inning. Defensively Pedroia looked fine on the latter but on the throw in he wasn’t able to stop the ball coming back into the infield. Not really a big deal.
On multiple occasions, Pedroia went for fly balls, one where he covered first base, and another where he ran out to be the cut off only for the ball to soar way above his head and into Travis at first.
Kevin Boles Has A Positive Take On Pedroia’s Rehab
Yeah he looks good, a little jumpy at the plate, but he says he is feeling good. He worked a lot of deep counts tonight, saw 24 pitches overall, worked the walk, so he was a tough out tonight. But defensively he made the one play to his glove side in the 3-1 shift. But overall a job well done. Said he felt pretty good afterwords, he was really encouraged on how he felt. This was a true test he spent a lot of time on his feet tonight. And I just thought he did a really nice job there.
Pedroia was able to get in his fourth at-bat in the seventh inning, something that is truly important to getting him ready for the majors: ” The more at-bats he gets, the better it’s going to be for him. But you also have to do it within reason. But this was more of a test and him getting out of the box, being on his feet, it’s something you really can’t simulate, it’s kind of like in Spring Training, where you are being out on your feet for 3+ hours. He did that today and today was a true test and he said he felt really good after the game.”
Up Next For The Red Sox Second Basemen
If there were any questions on whether or not Pedroia thinks he is ready the veteran is confident that he is ready to be back in the Major Leagues.
I’m ready to go.
The plan for right now is for Pedroia is to play in the morning game on Thursday for Pawtucket but nothing more is necessary according to Pedroia.
I’ll play tomorrow, and then I will be ready to go.
Pedroia said he will be in the field for Pawtucket on Thursday but when Manager Kevin Boles was asked about Pedroia playing he said: ” Possibly, going to depend on how he feels, that’s the plan, but we will see how he comes in.”
As for what is more valuable at this point for Pedroia between more at-bats or time in the field they are both equally important at this point.
“It’s all equally important at this point” said Manager Boles. “I would say this, being on his feet and logging some innings. And the back-to-back is really something that needs to happen, I really believe that he is looking forward to doing and we will see eventually when that happens. Hopefully it’s tomorrow, but again, him being on his feet and just building up that stamina in his legs, that’s big.
Despite having the Thursday game ahead of him Pedroia is already looking towards being back in Boston. And who can blame him with the long road back he has had to deal with. Pedroia seems to have to ailments at the moment and when asked if he needs any more rehab time after Thursday he said: ” I’m good man, everything is good to go”.