MVPedroia
Tuesday, November 18, 2008 16:59
Stand shortly and carry a big stick.
Going in the 2008 season, if someone told you that a member of the Boston Red Sox would win the American League MVP award, you wouldn’t have been surprised. Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz, Mike Lowell… the Red Sox had plenty of strong options. But would you have put money on Dustin Pedroia, Boston’s diminutive 5′ 9″, 180-pound (if that) second baseman? Hats off if you did. And hats off to Pedroia, who capped off a fantastic offensive season by winning his second piece of personal off-season hardware in two years (he won the AL Rookie of the Year award in 2007).
Pedroia became the first AL second-baseman in 49 years to win the award and only the fourth in junior-circuit (tenth in major-league) history. Much like his counterpart at first base, Kevin Youkilis (who finished third in the balloting himself), Pedroia did anything and everything the Sox asked of him. Although he didn’t move across the diamond like Youkilis did in replacing the injured Lowell at third, Pedroia moved up and down the line-up, occasionally batting lead-off and clean-up in addition to his normal second spot.
Most importantly, whenever the Sox needed him to do so, Pedroia came up with a big hit, often a home run (he hit 17 on the season). Pedroia swings the bat with intensity and power enough to make teammate Big Papi proud. It sometimes looks like he’s flailing at the ball, but the results speak otherwise: in addition to the 17 homers, Pedroia had a .326 batting average, 213 hits, 54 doubles, and 83 RBIs.
To think that in 2007, Pedroia was almost sent down after struggling the first month of the season. A World Series ring, Rookie of Year award, and Most Value Player trophy… not bad for only two full major league seasons.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
