Alex Cora witnessed it first-hand.
It was 2007 and a rookie by the name of Dustin Pedroia was struggling mightily throughout his first month as a major league starter. How bad? Through May 4 he was hitting .180 with a .535 OPS.
Then-general manager Theo Epstein had predicted the possible early-season slump for Pedroia before the season, knowing that the Red Sox would need the likes of a veteran like Cora to fill in the gaps. (Cora did just that, hitting .360 with a 1.207 OPS in April.)
Then came the May 4 off day, when Pedroia got together with hitting coach Dave Magadan to make a few adjustments. The fork in the road had been set. Starting with two hits against Minnesota's Johan Santana, Pedroia's season took off, ultimately landing with the American League Rookie of the Year.
It's a story Bobby Dalbec should soak in.
The Red Sox' rookie first baseman is obviously going through the same sort of early-season struggles Pedroia endured, hitting .174 with a .507 OPS.
Dalbec also just happens to be sitting with relatively the same amount of career plate appearances as Pedroia did when he started down his very different path. On May 7, 2007, the former second baseman sat at 177 plate appearances in the big leagues. Dalbec? He's at 184.
"He came out of the shoots slow and I think he put a lot of pressure on himself," said Red Sox hitting coach Tim Hyers. "He wanted to really get off to a good start and it just didn’t happen. You could just tell in some of his swings that to me, his stride got longer, he started to lose that lower half and not standing above the ball with his body as much, and so I felt like his swing got a little loopy and inconsistent. I think more of that was just mental than physical. His mental thoughts were affecting the physical and that just shows you he’s a tremendous worker and he pays attention to detail, and I think that’s where you give the young man credit, Bobby, of making those adjustments and not just falling away and battling back. That’s a good sign for him to make those adjustments, but it does give the credit to his talent and what he’s capable of doing. He just has to figure out, he doesn’t have to carry this team, he just has to have competitive ABs, do his thing and he’s going to be in our lineup for a long time.”
For now, Dalbec -- who is hitless in his last seven games, going 0-for-25 with 11 strikeouts -- waits for his Pedroia-esque turnaround.
"You’ve just got to keep working with him," Cora said after Thursday's win. "At this level, like I said, it’s not that easy. I know that he was very successful last year, but we know that there’s still work to do. Honestly, those conversations, we always talk about our players and what’s best for them. Right now, he’s been playing a lot of first base. He’s been playing a lot. We’re going to keep helping him out to get out of this. Obviously people see the slump and they start thinking about the minor leagues, but right now, just keep giving him confidence and giving him at-bats and see where it takes us. The good thing is that we are where we are as a team with the record. He knows that. He just needs to keep working and we’re going to keep helping him out. It’s not easy, like I said. To hit at this level is not easy. Right now, he’s in one of those stretches where he’s really struggling."
