The Boston Red Sox list Dustin Pedroia at 5'9" 180 pounds. This is very generous considering I have stood next to Dustin at a PawSox game and he is much closer to 5 '6"
160. If you ever saw the guy in street, you would never think that he was actually a professional baseball player. In Dustin's case looks are deceiving. The 23 year old second baseman can flat out rake.
Pedroia was drafted by the Red Sox as a shortstop in the second round of the 2004 MLB Draft out of Arizona State, where he hit .384 and was a 3-Time All Pac 10 First-Team selection. Other accolades, that Dustin accrued over his collegiate career include the 2003 National Defensive Player of the Year Award and the 2003 Pac 10 Player of the Year Award. Dustin Pedroia signed with the Red Sox shortly after the draft and was assigned to Low Class A Augusta of the Sally League and was promoted to High Class A Sarasota after just 12 games. In a small sample size of just 30 games at Sarasota Dustin hit .336 with an OPS of .940. Pedroia's performance lead the Red Sox to select him to play in the famous Arizona Fall League. In the pitching heavy AFL Dustin put up a solid line of .278/.370/.375 and performing well enough for the Red Sox to fast track him and place him in Double A Portland of the Eastern League at the start of 2005.
Because Red Sox Uber prospect Hanley Ramirez was penciled in at the Shortstop position in Portland, the Red Sox decided to move Pedroia to second base. Most scouts believed that Pedroia was better suited for the position anyway because of his size and mediocre arm strength. Dustin made a smooth transition to second base and feasted on Eastern League pitching batting .324/.409/.508 in 66 games before being promoted to Triple A Pawtucket. Pedroia cooled off at Pawtucket batting just .255/.356/.382. Some of Pedroia's cold streak in Pawtucket was attributed to an injury that he played through during his time there. That off season the young second baseman was awarded the Red Sox Minor League Offensive Player of the Year and was named the 77 best prospect in all of Major League Baseball by Baseball America.
In 2006 Dustin repeated Tiple A at Pawtucket and got a late season cup of coffee with the parent club hitting a horrendous .191/.258/.303 in just a small sample size. The Red Sox organization, impressed by Pedroia's minor league track record let veteran second baseman Mark Loretta walk and handed over the reigns to Dustin Pedroia.
After some early season struggles and a cries to make veteran Alex Cora the everyday second baseman Pedroia caught fire in May, when he was named Rookie of the Month, and hasn't looked back. He has raked to the line of .311/.390/.429 and has been a huge catalyst for a Red Sox lineup that has struggled to get men on base (Cough Coco Crisp, Julio Lugo Cough). With just a few more plate appearances, Pedroia would qualify for the second highest OPS of all AL second baseman. Dustin's scrappy play has drawn him comparisons to David Eckstein and Marcus Giles. Dustin joins Jonathan Papelbon and Cla Meredith on the short, but soon to grow list of players developed solely under the Epstein regime to achieve Major League success.
Random Notes
- Just when I thought Julian Tavarez could not get any quarkier, I learn that he uses ground up aspirin mixed into Red Bull to treat blisters on his pitching hand. What are the odds of him drinking this solution? This might explain why he dropkicked Joey Gathright (who admitted to being a black belt in Taekwondo) in an 06 Grapefruit League game and why he punched the dugout telephone breaking his hand as a Cardinal before the 04 World Series.
- Hats off to Oliver Perez, who defeated Roger Clemens tonight with 7 1/3 shutout innings. The young, hard throwing, southpaw has really turned it around this season holding all batters to a .206 BAA, while posting a 3.21 ERA and 1.11 WHIP.
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