In his previous five trips to the majors, whether due to a late-season promotion or one of several trips to fill an injury void, the one-time top positional prospect in the Red Sox' farm system has not had great success at the major league level — he has hit .188 or lower in all five stints.
His latest promotion, on the heels of two scorching months at Triple-A Pawtucket, is at least off to a good start. Maybe the sixth time will be a charm.
Reddick, 23, had the first three-hit game of his career in the Red Sox’ 11-5 win over Tampa Bay on Wednesday night. He is 4-for-7 in two games since being recalled on Monday and finally seems to have a feel for how to approach the situation.
"It's not changing anything. I think that's the big thing," Reddick said. "Guys come up here and try to do too much, try to impress way too quick, too fast, when you just need to stick to your own game. I think I did that clearly this year. I tried to do way too much and had the bad start after the good spring.
"I just kind of pressed way too much and it didn't work out for me."
Reddick was the Red Sox' best hitter during spring training, batting .390 (23-for-59) with team highs in hits, runs (13), doubles (nine) and total bases (40). With the Boston outfield at the time completely healthy (hard to imagine) he was unsurprisingly assigned to Pawtucket but failed to carry the success into the season.
Through the end of May, Reddick was batting just .191 (34-for-178) and falling into an old trap of swinging at bad pitches. He had fanned 38 times in 44 games during that span.
After his fifth call-up in two seasons near the end of June, which resulted in a 1-for-8 showing in three games, something clicked. From the start of July to his last game for the PawSox in which he had a home run and a double, Reddick batted .326 (72-for-221) with 11 homers in 53 games.
He feels as if this hot stretch has some staying power.
"It's just a continuation of what happened in Triple-A," he said after the three-hit effort Wednesday. "I'm going to try to ride this wave as long as I can and hopefully finish strong with these guys and prove to these guys that I can still do it up here. Hopefully they can see it."
One factor on Reddick's side this time is his surroundings. After past promotions he was often alone as the young replacement in a clubhouse filled with veterans. With several Pawtucket teammates currently up with the Red Sox, including fellow top hitting prospects Ryan Kalish and Lars Anderson, there is an increased comfort level for the one-time 17th round pick.
On the same night that Reddick collected three hits for the first time, Anderson had his first major league hit and RBI and Kalish knocked in the go-ahead run with a double.
"It puts me more in a little comfort zone, on and off the field," Reddick said. "Me and Kalish out there tonight it felt great. I know where he's at and he always knows where I'm at. It's the same with [Daniel] Nava when he's out there. Even on the bus ride and in the clubhouse you don't always have to be the one sitting in the corner. I can associate with these guys a little bit because I've been with them for a while."
Reddick will be in Boston for awhile, perhaps all of 2011, if he can prove this time around that he has what it takes. So far, so good.
