Boston Red Sox Second Basemen Dustin Pedroia Confident In Returning To Majors Saying “I’m ready to go”

Pawtucket, R.I.- Boston Red Sox second basemen Dustin Pedroia made his 4th rehab appearance for the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox on Wednesday night.

Pedroia went 0-for-3 with a walk and played 7 innings of errorless baseball at second base.

The 34-year-old second basemen underwent offseason knee surgery that has kept him out of action for the last six months and has delayed his start to the 2018 season. Pedroia was assigned to his 20-day rehab assignment with Pawtucket back on May 14th.

Given that 20-day timeline of activation, the latest he could be activated is on June 3rd. But signs do indicate an earlier call-up than that with Pedroia potentially in line to rejoin the Boston Red Sox as early as this Friday. After the game, the second basemen was very confident that he is ready to be back in Boston.

I felt great, timings just a little bit off. No I felt great, I had long at-bats, fouled pitches, yeah it felt good.

Pedroia found value in his long at-bats as he was “searching to find it a little bit, so that helps. But no, I am pretty excited, I felt good, moving around really well. I am right there.”

Dustin Pedroia’s First At-Bat

In his first at-bat, Pedroia fouled off a number of 96 mph fastballs before grounding out to the second basemen on the 6th pitch of the at-bat.

It appeared that the starter, Justus Sheffield, targeted Pedroia middle in trying to overpower him with his fastball. Pedroia was able to work the count and get the barrel on the ball three times in the at-bat. Clearly timing still an issue but that is going to come in time with the 34-year-old still 100 at-bats or so behind everyone else.

Dustin Pedroia’s Second At-Bat

In the former MVP’s second at-bat of the night, Pedroia worked a 5 pitch walk and had to take a couple of really close pitches to earn the free pass.

Pitch tracker had several of the called balls as strikes and having sat right behind the plate for this at-bat they were certainly tough pitches to lay off and could have been called either way.

Dustin Pedroia’s Third At-Bat

For the third at-bat, Pedroia once again worked the count only to ground out on a hard hit ground ball to the shortstop.

Pedroia faced 8 pitches in the at-bat and once again fouled off multiple times with 2 fouls with his timing just off but clearly still has the ability to get his bat around quickly on the fastball.

Dustin Pedroia’s Fourth At-Bat

In his fourth and final at-bat of the night for former Rookie of the Year struck out on 5 pitches with the final pitch being a foul tip caught by the catcher.

Pedroia looked overpowered by the fastball in this at-bat with Harvey challenging Pedroia.

Defensively Pedroia Looking Smooth

The four-time Rawlings Gold Glove winner saw his first defensive opportunity in the top of the 1st inning with two plays.

One was covering second base for the throw in from the outfield and the other was fielding a ground ball and throwing it over to Sam Travis at first base to end the inning. Defensively Pedroia looked fine on the latter but on the throw in he wasn’t able to stop the ball coming back into the infield. Not really a big deal.

On multiple occasions, Pedroia went for fly balls, one where he covered first base, and another where he ran out to be the cut off only for the ball to soar way above his head and into Travis at first.

Kevin Boles Has A Positive Take On Pedroia’s Rehab

Yeah he looks good, a little jumpy at the plate, but he says he is feeling good. He worked a lot of deep counts tonight, saw 24 pitches overall, worked the walk, so he was a tough out tonight. But defensively he made the one play to his glove side in the 3-1 shift. But overall a job well done. Said he felt pretty good afterwords, he was really encouraged on how he felt. This was a true test he spent a lot of time on his feet tonight. And I just thought he did a really nice job there.

Pedroia was able to get in his fourth at-bat in the seventh inning, something that is truly important to getting him ready for the majors: ” The more at-bats he gets, the better it’s going to be for him. But you also have to do it within reason. But this was more of a test and him getting out of the box, being on his feet, it’s something you really can’t simulate, it’s kind of like in Spring Training, where you are being out on your feet for 3+ hours. He did that today and today was a true test and he said he felt really good after the game.”

Up Next For The Red Sox Second Basemen

If there were any questions on whether or not Pedroia thinks he is ready the veteran is confident that he is ready to be back in the Major Leagues.

I’m ready to go.

The plan for right now is for Pedroia is to play in the morning game on Thursday for Pawtucket but nothing more is necessary according to Pedroia.

I’ll play tomorrow, and then I will be ready to go.

Pedroia said he will be in the field for Pawtucket on Thursday but when Manager Kevin Boles was asked about Pedroia playing he said: ” Possibly, going to depend on how he feels, that’s the plan, but we will see how he comes in.”

As for what is more valuable at this point for Pedroia between more at-bats or time in the field they are both equally important at this point.

“It’s all equally important at this point” said Manager Boles. “I would say this, being on his feet and logging some innings. And the back-to-back is really something that needs to happen, I really believe that he is looking forward to doing and we will see eventually when that happens. Hopefully it’s tomorrow, but again, him being on his feet and just building up that stamina in his legs, that’s big.

Despite having the Thursday game ahead of him Pedroia is already looking towards being back in Boston. And who can blame him with the long road back he has had to deal with. Pedroia seems to have to ailments at the moment and when asked if he needs any more rehab time after Thursday he said: ” I’m good man, everything is good to go”.

Pawtucket Red Sox Lose To Scranton While Dustin Pedroia goes 0 For 3 At The Plate, Chandler Shepherd Looked Tired In The Fourth, Dustin Pedroia Feels Good After Tonight, Brandon Workman Came Up Big For The Bullpen

The Pawtucket Red Sox dropped the third game of their four game series with the Scranton Rail Riders by a score of 7 to 1 on Wednesday night. The big story tonight however was Red Sox first basemen Dustin Pedroia who felt good after playing seven innings in the field and getting four at bats. In total, he went 0 for 3 at the plate. But he did see 24 pitches.

Chandler Shepherd Looked Tired In The Fourth

Coming into Wednesday night, Paw Sox starting pitcher Chandler Shepherd has pitched very well in his last 3 starts. Combined, he has pitched 18 innings while only giving up 3 runs (2 earned) on 15 hits. That includes 6 innings of 2 run ball in his last time on Friday, May 18th. In that game, he pitched a career high 99 pitches (66 strikes).

Shepherd was not as sharp on Wednesday night for the Paw Sox. In only 3 and 1/3 innings pitched, he gave up 4 runs on 7 base hits. He walked one batter and struck out 4 on 78 pitches (51 strikes). But in the fourth inning, it really started to wear on Shepherd as he reached over 30 pitches in the inning. But he was pulled from the game before the end of it as the last batter he faced in the 4th inning was Rey Navarro. Shepherd just wasn’t able to put him away. With two strikes Navarro, he was able to foul off 6 pitches before he hit a ball up the middle for a base hit that ultimately scored two runs to put Scranton up 4 to 0.

“He was around 33-35 pitches, and once we saw that, he gave up the hit. You don’t want another 8 to 10 pitch at-bat and now you’re over 40 plus pitches in an inning. It looked like he was getting tired, laboring, so we decided to go to the pen” -Kevin Boles

Dustin Pedroia Feels Good After Tonight

Red Sox second basemen Dustin Pedroia continued his rehab stint with the Pawtucket Red Sox on Wednesday night. He played second base and went 0 for 3 with 1 walk. His timing is still a little bit off, but he saw a lot of fastballs up around 96-97 mph and he was able to foul them off.

In his first at-bat, Pedroia hit a ground ball up the middle that was fielded by Scranton second basemen Billy Fleming, who then threw it over to first for the out. In that at-bat, Pedroia was able to foul off several pitches from Scranton starting pitcher Justus Sheffield that were coming in at 96 mph. On those foul balls, Pedroia was ahead of the pitch while he fouled them off.

In Pedroia’s second at-bat against Justus Sheffield, Pedroia walked on 5 pitches. The one strikes he saw was on a 3-0 count and there was no shot he was going to swing at a pitch when the count was 3-0.

In Pedroia’s third at-bat in the fifth inning, he faced Yankees reliever Tommy Kahnle who is rehabbing from Right shoulder tendonitis. It was a really good at-bat for Pedroia who was able to work the count full before he ultimately grounded out to shortstop Rey Navarro to end the inning. What was most impressive from the at-bat for Pedroia, is that he was able to work the count and see 8 pitches before he grounded out.

In his 4th and final at-bat, Pedroia saw nothing but fastballs from Railriders reliever Joe Harvey. With Harvey bringing the fastball at 96-97 mph, Pedroia ultimately struck out swinging on a foul tip that was held by catcher Kyle Higashioka for the out. With it being the 7th inning for Pedroia, he was pulled from the game after the at-bat. He was replaced at 2nd base by Mike Miller.

Pedroia said after the game that “It was nice” to see a lot of pitches with high velocity in tonight’s game. “I felt great. Timing is a little bit off, but I felt great. Had long at-bats, saw pitches. It felt good” Pedroia added.

“He looks good. A little jumpy at the plate but he says he’s feeling good. He worked a lot of deep counts tonight. Saw 24 pitches overall. Worked the walk, and was a tough out tonight. But defensively, he made the one play to his glove side in the 3-1 shift. Overall, job well done. He said he felt pretty good afterwords. He was really encouraged on how he felt, and this was a true test. He spent a lot of time on his feet tonight” said Paw Sox manager Kevin Boles regarding Dustin Pedroia.

Brandon Workman Came Up Big For The Bullpen

Brandon Workman pitched very well for the Paw Sox in relief for Chandler Shepherd. In 2 and 2/3 innings pitched, he only allowed 2 base runners and struck out 3 on 40 pitches (21 strikes). Both of the base runners he allowed were walks. This was a good outing to build off of for Workman who went one scoreless inning on May 19th at Rochester.

“He was good. It looked like the effort level ticked up a little bit. Command was a little suspect. But we are seeing an uptick in velocity with him. We thought we saw some power to his curve ball, cutter was a good pitch for him. He did a nice job for us tonight” said Paw Sox manager Kevin Boles after the game

It is a good sign for the Paw Sox if Workman can continue this going forward. Since he has been used as more of a long man for the Paw Sox, he has been able to build up arm strength which is big for him going forward. If he is able to sustain that, it will help him later in the season if he does get a chance to pitch in Boston.

Boston Red Sox Pitcher Tyler Thornburg Is Feeling Really Good, Will Not Pitch On Wednesday Night

Boston Red Sox pitcher Tyler Thornburg is towards the end of his rehab assignment as it expires on May 30th. In 9 rehab appearances between AA Portland and AAA Pawtucket, he has 7 innings pitched, while giving up 5 runs (4 earned), 7 hits, 7 walks, and 9 strikeouts. In his latest outing on Tuesday night where he went 1 scoreless inning while striking out two batters. Those two batters were Tyler Wade and Clint Frazier.

“Thornburg felt really good. That’s what we saw when he first initially started with us. Then he went to Portland, came back, he was a little bit rough, ball wasn’t coming out as good. But last night better signs there. It was much better. He says he’s feeling really good. I think the plan here moving forward with him is to get him a little bit longer stints. Build them up a little bit. A little bit over 1 inning, to possibly 2 innings of work. So we’ll see in the next couple of days to see what Boston has” said Paw Sox manager Kevin Boles.

Last night, Thornburg said that he was closer to the final few appearances of spring training at the moment. Right now, he is looking a lot better as a pitcher compared to what he was a few outings ago. He still needs to to work on his arm strength and be able to pitch in back to back games. That is something that he has pointed out, is a big step in his recovery.

Right now, it is unclear when his next appearance will be in his rehab. Paw Sox manager Kevin Boles said that they are still waiting to hear from Boston as to see what the next step is for Thornburg. All we can guarantee is that Thornburg will not appear in Wednesday nights Paw Sox game against Scranton.