Dustin Pedroia: Beantown's Little-Big Man

Good things come in small packages.  We’ve all heard that one before, right?  Well, aside from the proof that lies within a Hershey’s Kiss, we also have Dustin Pedroia to hammer home that cliché, and when I say hammer home, I mean it. 

On a team that has had the Manny controversy, “Big Papi” as its resident slugger, and fireballers Josh Beckett and Jonathan Papelbon to strike fear in the hearts of opponents, the littlest of the Red Sox is asserting himself as a presence to be felt.

Since August 17^th: 43 for 115 at the plate (.374), with 10 doubles, a triple, and six home runs, including one grand-slam against the Yankees.  His on-base percentage is .374 and his slugging percentage is .635, for an OPS of .954!  He’s amassed 20 RBI in that span and he’s still only five feet (perseverance and moxie can’t change everything).

But change is probably the wrong word.  While he’s surged in the last few weeks (just when the Sox needed it) his season numbers show that he’s not playing all that far above himself.  Pedroia is batting .330 in 2008, with 16 jacks, an on-base percentage of .376, and slugging .496. 

Are these record setting numbers? Certainly not.  Are they stupendous for a Red Sox second baseman?  You bet!

Pedroia is one of the oft mentioned former golden prospects that came up from the Red Sox farm system.  He was drafted by Boston in 2004 draft, but don’t think it took a lot of prognostication on the part of Sox GM, Theo Epstein. 

Pedroia never hit below .347 in his three years at Arizona State.  He bounced from shortstop to second base and back again, while sharing the spotlight with Ian Kinsler, now with the Rangers.  Once in the minors, he carried a batting average of .308 across two seasons before coming up to the big show for good last year. 

A slow start in 2007 had many wondering just what good, if any, he was going to be.  Pedroia soon proved to the rest of us what Theo already seemed to know.  His batting average climbed steadily as the season progressed to wind the regular season up at .317.  After a shaky divisional series, he batted .320 combined in the ALCS and World Series, including two home runs.

When the July 31st trade deadline saw Manny heading west, lots of folks were nervous.  Along with Jason Bay (Manny’s replacement), who has been all that the Sox hoped, Dustin Pedroia is one of the main reasons why the Red Sox are still leading the AL wild-card race and still not counted out for a shot at knocking off a sizzling Tampa Bay franchise.

Known not only for his on-field performance and intensity, but also for his positive effect on the clubhouse, Red Sox Nation hopes to be seeing a lot more of Dustin Pedroia in the future.