Pedroia’s Mirror Image on the Diamond

Deven Marrero will hopefully one day solve the Red Sox
historically bad problems at shortstop.

by Joseph Kuykendall

It all looks familiar to Boston Red Sox fans; an Arizona State infielder with First-Team All-Pac 12 honors, Golden Spikes Award mention, and conference defensive honors to cap it all off. Although this may sound like Red Sox second basemen Dustin Pedroia, it’s not. It’s the Red Sox first pick (1^st Round, 24th pick) in the 2012 MLB First-Year Player Draft, Deven Marrero. From the outside he reminds us a lot of Pedroia but we can only hope he progresses into the player Pedroia is now.

Like many people, Marrero has a few inches on Pedroia but that doesn’t prevent the Florida native from being more graceful on the infield. In fact, Marrero’s best asset may be his defense. He was named 2011 Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year for his prowess on the diamond. He’s listed by ASU as an infielder but mainly played shortstop this past season. Give him a few years of development in the minors and he could quickly be up with the “big boys”, especially because of the obvious issues the Red Sox organization has had with shortstops in the past. His defense is so impressive, his coach from the Cotuit Kettleers of the Cape League, Mike Roberts, made a bold comparison according to ESPNBoston.com, “He’s the best amateur baseball player on the defensive side I’ve ever seen in 35 years of coaching…He’s Omar Vizquel at 20, 21, except he’ll be a better hitter and steal more bases. I’ve seen him do things defensively I’ve never seen another infielder do.”

Since 2005, a Red Sox shortstop has either committed the most or second most errors on the team (including this season). Marrero may be the solution to this problem if he can improve his bat as well as his mindset on the game to get up to Boston. Although defense has been a consistent bright spot in Marrero’s game, his average has gotten worse from each year to the next throughout his college playing days. He hit .397 his first year in Tempe and this past season he hit a bland .284. Scouts attribute this drop in batting numbers to his attitude. They say it’s “frustrating” because he seems to not care about it. He has an amazing arm and speed but chooses when to display those talents. This doesn’t sound like the Pedroia we know as we know the little “Laser Show” to hustle everything out and give 110% at whatever he is doing.

There is nothing a little Minor League Baseball can’t fix. That may be the answer to turning Marrero into a true professional ballplayer with discipline and one day putting on performances on the same area of the Fenway dirt once owned by Nomar Garciaparra.