Red Sox: Dustin Pedroia’s leadership crucial for 2017 success
With the retirement of David Ortiz, it is now clear that Dustin Pedroia is the leader of the Boston Red Sox going forward.
Jason Varitek, David Ortiz and now Dustin Pedroia. All gritty guys who played the game the right way and earned the respect of their teammates to be dawned the leader of the Boston Red Sox.
Pedroia, however, brings a new type of leadership to the Red Sox. He’s not going to go out and fight like Varitek did, or hit game winning grand slams in the postseason like Ortiz but he will be a leader by example. All the young guys coming up have to look at how Pedroia handles himself and try to model themselves after him.
Pedroia did note earlier this week at Spring Training about the absence of his pal Ortiz, who he’s been with since the 2007 season.
"“Yeah, I did notice it,” said Pedroia, per the Boston Herald’s Steve Buckley. “Yeah, it’s different, man. You walk in and there it is, except that now it’s not. But we’ll figure it out the best we can.”"
The best way possible is that it is now Pedroia’s team, and I’m sure the players are perfectly content with that simply because of the way Pedroia carries himself on and off the field.
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The Red Sox could be up or down 100 runs and you’ll still see Pedroia running hard through bases and running out to his position, something that is very uncommon in today’s game. Pedroia has shown some of the same type of dedication towards the team that Ortiz did.
Pedroia is always the first one at the park getting work in and is known to play through some injuries. We also know it’s very clear that Pedroia isn’t afraid to call team meetings and call out players when things aren’t going the way they should be. With still some young guys and newcomers, Pedroia’s leadership this year is going to be crucial in order for the Red Sox to stay together and win ball games.
When Pedroia is going, the whole team is going. He is the jump-start at the top of the already powerful Red Sox lineup and is always making big defensive plays for momentum swings.
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The first season without Ortiz will be hard on both the players and fans, but in the realm of things, the Red Sox should be just fine with the team now in Dustin Pedroia’s hands.