Mike Lupica: Brett Gardner Can Be Yanks' Version of Dustin Pedroia

(Photo by Matthew Peyton/Getty Images)

From Mike Lupica:

The other day, in another part of Fort Myers and another spring park, Joe Girardi was talking about Pedroia, saying, "It's good to see guys like that succeed. It's the message you want to send to kids and everybody, that anybody has a shot to fulfill their dreams. A guy you wouldn't even know was an athlete if you saw him walking down the street."

Then Girardi said, "There's no size chart in baseball."

There was no size chart for Pedroia, who was the best little guy in his sport before he became MVP. He got off to a terrible start in his rookie season and Terry Francona, the Red Sox manager, stayed with him, and Pedroia just kept swinging from his heels and making the plays at second and winning games. Now he has become a star of his sport.

The kid who fights to be the Yankees' starter in center field on Opening Day, Brett Gardner, is not the kind of hitter that Pedroia is, will never have that kind of power. But Gardner does not fit the modern profile of a Yankee anymore than Pedroia fit the profile of baseball star.

He is the kind of kid the Yankees hardly ever produce anymore, a grinder with a ton of heart, one sending the same kind of message that Pedroia did, that anybody has a shot at their dreams.

This is what you hear a lot from Yankee fans these days, because of Mr. Fun, Alex Rodriguez: How hard he makes it to root for their team.

Gardner makes it easy.

"He is somebody anybody can relate to," Girardi said. "He's one of those guys who would run through a wall for you. People want to root for that. So many of the big guys in this sport, you look at what they do and say, 'No way I could do that.'

"But guys like Melky (Cabrera) and Brett, they're two guys people absolutely can relate to. It's what I mean about how our sport lends itself to all shapes and sizes."

Gardner himself comes in after batting practice on this day, never looking as big as the 5-foot-10 he is supposed to be, reminding you more of a Pedroia and says, "In sports, the 40th-rounder is supposed to have as good a chance as the first-rounder if he can do the job."

He wasn't a 40th rounder. He was picked with the last pick of the third round in the 2005 draft and began spraying the ball to all fields almost immediately and stealing bases and being a dirty uniform everywhere he played.

Before all that, he was a walk-on player at the College of Charleston. In the spring of A-Rod, and all the talk about the big-money pitchers, he has made himself into a story, and as much of a Yankee kid to root for as we have had in a while.

Besides the irrelevant mention of A-Rod (anything to take a shot at him, huh, Mike?) I think Lupica is right about Gardner. He is easy to root for, and like Pedroia, he's a "little engine that could" type of player.

They both also play great defense and hustle on every play. You will never question how much guys like this want to win.

And don't discount the effect the kind of players have on their teammates. If they succeed, they have the ability to inspire those around them to play harder.

Another reason I'm glad Lupica compares Gardner to Pedroia is because of their slow starts in the big leagues and the patience that the Red Sox showed with Pedroia.

He, like Gardner, struggled at first in the big leagues, hitting just .184 with 2 HR and 7 RBI through his first 147 major league at-bats. I'm sure there were many Sox fans saying the kid wasn't ready, or couldn't hit at the MLB level.

Gardner at this point in his career is hitting .228 with 0 HR and 16 RBI through his first 127 at-bats, slightly better than Pedroia, and hit .305 after being recalled from the minors in mid-August.

But already, Yankees fans are ready to give up on him and have come to the conclusion that he can't hit at this level.

Does this mean I think Gardner is or will be better than Pedroia? Absolutely not. But it does mean we shouldn't give up on a player because of a bad two-month stretch.

There's nothing close to a guarantee that Gardner will be a good major leaguer, but with all that he could potentially bring to the table with his speed, defense and hustle, the Yankees would be foolish not to give him a real chance.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?