It’s been two full seasons since Dustin Pedroia hit double-digit home runs, but the pint-sized infielder packed quite a bunch before that. For five consecutive seasons, Pedroia clobbered at least 12 home runs, peaking at 21 round-trippers in 2011.
Needless to say, the Boston Red Sox’s second baseman could knock the ball out of the park though seemingly lost his power stroke with his injuries over the past few years. Now Dustin Pedroia says he’s fully healthy and expects his home run hitting ability to return.
“The ball’s going to go farther,” Pedroia said. “The balls are going 400 feet now (in batting practice). And then, when you add 5 mph (against pitchers), I’m not a chemist or anything, it’s probably going to go 500.”
Obviously there’s a bit of tongue-in-cheek there by Dustin Pedroia, but it’s nice to see the All-Star looking confident.
Add in the new offensive weaponry to compliment Pedrioa in Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez, and the already solid Boston Red Sox lineup has become potentially lethal if everybody plays up to their expectations.
Of course, Pedroia and Ramirez (even Sandoval, to a lesser extent) have all had injury woes in the past but hopefully that is behind all of the players.
