Dustin Pedroia never stopped believing, and Pat Murphy kept a text message as proof.
Pedroia has tangible evidence now that his faith was well-founded.
The Boston Red Sox rookie second baseman was named the American League rookie of the year on Monday, receiving 24 of the 28 possible first-place votes from the Baseball Writers Association of America.
Tampa Bay’s Delmon Young finished second.
Pedroia heard the news while driving in a separate car next to his wife, Kelli.
“I sped up and gave her the thumbs up,” Pedroia said from Arizona State’s Packard Stadium, where the announcement was made. “It was pretty exciting.”
When the calendar flipped to May, it seemed like maybe, finally, the critics were right.
Pedroia was hitting .182, and the criticism that he was too small while his swing was too big was gaining traction.
But the 5-foot-9 Pedroia was used to this, and he told Murphy, his coach at Arizona State, that a hot streak was on its way.
“He did predict at that time that he was about to go on a tear,” Murphy said. “I have the text message saved. He said: ‘I’m about to go on a tear, so the Red Sox Nation better beware. And I’ll probably be rookie of the year.’ “
Pedroia hit .415 in May and .299 or better in each of the final four months. He ended up with a .317 batting average, eight homers and 50 RBIs in 139 games played.
He was also a key playoff cog in Boston’s trek to the World Series title. He had five RBIs in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series against the Indians and led off the World Series against Colorado with a home run over the Green Monster at Fenway Park.
Pedroia played with a broken bone in his left hand for the final two months of the season.
