PITTSBURGH -- Brian Butterfield admits that he can’t be certain what the future holds for second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who recently underwent wrist surgery, the second consecutive year he has had a major procedure done on his left hand. Last year, it was surgery to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his thumb.
In 2012, Pedroia also had a pin inserted to repair a torn ligament in his right pinky finger.
But Butterfield, the Red Sox third-base coach and infield instructor, says before anyone speculates about Pedroia’s future, they should acknowledge what they have witnessed over the last two seasons. Wednesday, Butterfield did it for them.
“He’s been playing with one hand for two years, and it’s amazing,” Butterfield said. “I’ve been telling people in my own family, he’s the toughest guy I’ve ever seen in my life.
“If he was able to play with two hands, he’d be dominant. It’s unbelievable what he can do with 160 pounds, and the injuries he’s been playing with in his hands.”
Can the Sox expect a full recovery from Pedroia?
“I'm very optimistic about what he's going to be,” general manager Ben Cherington said here Wednesday afternoon. “If I was going to bet on one player in Major League Baseball, he'd certainly be in the very small group of guys I'd bet on.”
Pedroia’s last full season in which he was healthy was 2011, and it shows. His production has been in steady decline, culminating in a career-low .712 OPS this season. That is not an encouraging track for a player still owed $96.5 million over the next seven years.
But Cherington explained why he is bullish about a Pedroia recovery.
“Because he's been banged up, I don't think we've seen everything he’s capable of doing on the field,” Cherington said. “Despite that, he’s still been a very valuable player, including this year. In aggregate, he’s clearly one of the better second basemen in the game.
“So my bet is, based on the information I have anyway, [these injuries] are not things that are chronic or lasting things; [they are] things he’ll recover from. I think his ability to be productive playing through stuff is pretty remarkable.
“If he can get past the issues he’s been fighting, which we think he will, I don’t have any reason to think he’s not going to be one of the very best second basemen in the game for a long time.”
If past is prologue, Butterfield said, Pedroia will be a Sox mainstay for a long time to come.
“Just about everybody I’ve read about who had the same type of injury [torn thumb ligament] shut it down, had it operated on and missed most of the season,” Butterfield said. “How many games did [Pedroia] play last season? One hundred sixty? He fought through it and never complained once. The most noble athlete I’ve ever come across.
“He’s reached unattainable heights in my eyes. That’s toughness beyond toughness. That’s one of the things I admire about him so much, his relentlessness and physical and mental toughness. No one comes close. Whoever is second, I can’t even see with binoculars.”
And while his injuries affected his performance at the plate, Pedroia still played splendid defense, committing just two errors this season.
“Maybe the best performance at that position this year I’ve ever seen,” Butterfield said. “Some of the [defensive metrics] I pay attention to, some I don’t because I don’t understand them that well.
“But what I do understand is his ability to take away a hit, his ability to rip some skin to take away a hit, his ability to hang in and pivot and make the double play with a guy breathing on him. He’s got tremendous courage.”