Obviously the strikeouts are a concern and hopefully that is something he adjusts in the future as one of his best skills has always been his amazing ability to make contact. This has taken a hit to his batting average and someone who is usually a .300 hitter has to be disappointed with his .277 average so far.
The good news at the plate is he is taking quite a few more pitches and is walking a lot more. He always had a good eye, but didn’t walk much because he hit most of the pitches he swung at. This year though he is holding back and taking the result of more pitches. His strikeouts maybe up, but his BB/9 has jumped from 9.6 percent in his career to 16 percent this season. With 344 PA so far this year this number would appear to be a new skill level.
Pedroia is now seeing 4.26 pitches every at bat versus 3.73 in 2008 when he was AL MVP. Put all that together and while his average is down his OBP is at a career high of .394. That has helped him get on base before the heart of the Red Sox order many times and has benefited the team. His power is down and that would probably be a sign his foot is hindering him, but overall his wOBA stands at .365 while his career rate is .365 . He’s doing it a bit differently, but offensively he has been as valuable as he has always been.
On the defensive side he has somehow put the discomfort out of his mind as his UZR of 8.6 nearly tops any full season for Pedroia. His UZR/150 of 19.3 is nearly double his best season UZR/150 of 10.3 in 2008. I’m sure the small sample has something to do with the large number, but as we have all seen visually he looks as good as ever with his glove and has helped make the Red Sox one of the top three teams in Team Defensive Efficiency.
When Pedroia has the screws removed from his foot after the season it will be interesting what he looks like in 2012. Will he go back to the hacking contact hitter who walks a fair amount, but hardly ever strikes out or will he stay the patient hitter with a great eye. I say great because his current BB/K in 2011 rates in the top five right now with Jose Bautista, Miguel Cabrera, Ian Kinsler and Albert Pujols. Pretty great company for him to rank with.
If he can maintain this patience and regain his power stroke he could become an even better hitter than the one who won the MVP in 2008. If not he’s still a leader of this team and one of the best second basemen in all of baseball.