Little Sox rookie has come up big

By Joe Christensen, Star Tribune

Last update: October 23, 2007 - 8:23 PM

The comparisons are striking: Dustin Pedroia is to the 2007 Boston Red Sox what Chuck Knoblauch was to the 1991 Twins.

A pint-sized rookie who leads a team to the World Series, playing second base, batting leadoff and adding grit.

The Red Sox are heavy favorites against the Colorado Rockies, heading into Game 1 tonight at Fenway Park in Boston, but Pedroia isn't about to let his team go soft.

Pedroia has been their sparkplug all year.

"Hey, I have to be this way," he said of his high-energy style. "I'm 5-foot-2, 115 pounds. Any edge I can get, I've got to use it."

Pedroia, 24, actually is listed at 5-9. But that's probably giving him 3 inches.

"He walks around like he's an Adonis, instead of 5-foot-6," said Theo Epstein, the Red Sox general manager. "That's part of what makes him so good."

Scouts were unimpressed when the Red Sox selected Pedroia with their top pick (No. 65 overall) in the 2004 draft out of Arizona State.

Fans wrote him off when he batted .182 in April.

Still others wrote him off after he batted .161 in his first seven postseason games.

Pedroia never flinched, going 7-for-11 in the final three games of the American League Chamionship Series and finishing off Cleveland with a two-run homer and three-run double in his last two at-bats.

"He does have some physical limitations," Epstein said. "He's not big, he's not strong and he's not fast. But he's got the uncanny ability to put the barrel of the bat on the baseball while swinging hard.

"He really sets a tone for this team with his grittiness. He doesn't let anything get in his way out there."

The Red Sox had a pretty good idea about Pedroia's fearlessness when he started ripping the Yankees' Alex Rodriguez for a hard takeout slide May 22.

"I'm not going to go in like a little baby and try to hug him," Rodriguez said.

To which Pedroia told the Boston Globe, "He better get down next time. If he doesn't, he's going to get hit by the ball. ... I wouldn't slide into Derek Jeter like that. I slide in hard, but low."

Epstein said he would normally expect a rookie to defer to a veteran, but not Pedroia.

"You would never want to change him," Epstein said. "He's been like that from day one in the organization. It's the way he played at Arizona State."

Pedroia batted just .191 as a September callup last season, but the Red Sox saw enough to let go of second baseman Mark Loretta, opening up a spot in the lineup.

Pedroia hit .415 in May and never looked back, finishing with a .317 average, a record for a rookie major league second baseman.

Pedroia is the favorite for AL Rookie of the Year, an award Knoblauch claimed in 1991.

That year, Knoblauch, also listed at 5-9, batted .281 with 25 stolen bases and 18 errors in 148 games at second base. He then hit .326 in 12 postseason games as the Twins won the World Series.

Pedroia doesn't run as much as Knoblauch, stealing seven bases in eight attempts this year, but he committed only six errors in 137 games at second. He's so confident, he plays cribbage every day with manager Terry Francona and doesn't worry about letting the boss win.

"He's not up here for the ride, he's up here to win," Francona said. "When you get a young player like that, that's pretty special."

Joe Christensen • jchristensen@startribune.com

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