The Second Base Situation

Back in March, I made a promise to myself: Exerting patience with Dustin Pedroia would be vital. I expected early struggles and was fully prepared to pace myself with the development of the new second baseman. After all, Pedroia’s game is entirely based on making contact and occasionally hitting balls into gaps, and in no way is he a home run slugger by any stretch of the imagination. So for Dustin, timing and adjusting would be key.

Yet today on March 3, Dustin Pedroia is reeling more than I could have predicted. I was expecting around a .225 average by now with 70 AB or so. Instead, all Pedroia can show is a .172/.294/.224 line with 3 doubles, 0 HR and 2 RBI in 58 AB. To go along with the struggles of Pedroia, utility man Alex Cora, who discovered Neptune and invented the periodic table, is off to a raging start to the year. Through Tuesday, Cora is at .321/.387/.714 with 2 triples, 2 HR and 8 RBI in 28 AB. Along with those freakish numbers, Cora has chipped in with clutch hits against the Yankees on three occasions.

Red Sox fans are not the only people in confusion over the second base situation. All week Tito Francona has dodged addressing clearly who will be the starter at second base in the near future. Finally, yesterday Francona came to the conclusion that he would still start Pedroia on an everyday basis and just plug in Cora  when he had previous success against the starter or Dustin needed a day off. With only 58 AB in the young season, Francona has decided to stick with the young kid over the hot bat.

I’m sure the decision had a lot to do with the front office. It was Theo and his boys that decided to let the reliable veteran Mark Loretta walk to a bench role with the Astros and felt it was the appropriate time to insert the 2006 Red Sox Minor League Player of the Year Dustin Pedroia into the daily lineup at second. I really couldn’t complain about the decision at the time. I loved Loretta with all my heart (I don’t care if that sounded weird), but Pedroia delivered on every minor league level and we all know Theo loves the opportunity to plug in his much-adored prospects when ready. It definitely appeared like Pedroia was ready.

With Pedroia flailing at balls outside of the strike zone with his enormous swing trying to balance with such a small stature, and every Alex Cora RBI base knock in the 8th inning, the questions will linger. Right now, Cora can seemingly do no wrong when he’s in the starting lineup. While he is sure to hit a rougher patch in the grass and fall back down to earth from that unbelievable slugging percentage, will it get to the point where Pedroia over Cora is actually costing the Red Sox runs?

58 AB into the year, the Sox are sticking with Pedroia. I definitely feel this is the right move as the situation currently stands. Number one, it’s May 2nd, way too early in the season to start making drastic lineup changes with a small sample size. Two, the only way Dustin Pedroia is going to get fully accustomed to major league pitching and get his timing down to their level is more opportunities and at-bats. The vow I made before the season to be patient for the first two months is really testing, but it’ a time where this young prospect needs our support.

Anyone who has watched Pedroia in college at Arizona State, or in the minors from Portland to Pawtucket knows damn well that while Dustin is height-challenged, his bat makes up for it. With Pedroia as our every day second baseman until he transforms into a red-hot hitting machine, smoking balls all over the field and slowly but surely raising that average, we not only have a young man to appreciate at the position, but also a backup who you know will get the job done off the pine in Alex Cora.

The Sox made a good move deciding to stick with Pedroia. Give him more at-bats and good things will happen.