Deven Marrero Excited to Follow in Dustin Pedroia’s Footsteps, Looks Forward to Joining Red Sox

by

Jun 5, 2012

Deven Marrero Excited to Follow in Dustin Pedroia's Footsteps, Looks Forward to Joining Red SoxBOSTON — The Red Sox used their first-round draft pick in this year's draft on a middle infielder from Arizona State. The last time they did that, things worked out pretty well.

The Sox used the 24th pick of the first round to select Deven Marrero, a junior shortstop out of Arizona State.

Unsurprisingly, Marrero is hoping that one day he can make the same type of impact Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia — a former Sun Devil as well — has within the Boston organization.

"I met Dustin a couple of times," Marrero said. "He trains out there at ASU and always comes to alumni games. I met him a couple times, and it's just awesome to have him as a guideline. He's a great guy and a great one to follow. I'm excited."

The comparisons to Pedroia are inevitable, but Marrero is also his own player. He’s known to have a solid glove, and his numbers in three years in Tempe show that he can handle the bat as well. However, he struggled at the plate this year in his junior season, and that may have hurt his draft stock a little bit.

The Red Sox obviously saw something they liked to take the infielder in the first round, despite a noticeable drop in batting average. After hitting .397 and .313 in his freshman and sophomore years, respectively, Marrero hit just .284 this season.

Regardless, Marrero insists that it wasn't his swing that accounted for the dropoff offensively, rather some bad luck.

"My offensive game is I'm a gap-to-gap guy," he explained. "I felt that this year compared to the last two years, balls just weren't getting through the infield. Guys were standing where my ball was landing.

"It's just one of those things. All I can control is just hitting the ball and from then on, the ball controls where it lands and all that. It's just one of those things this year where I was focused, nothing really different happened with my swing. It happened to be I was hitting the ball hard at people. That's just the way the game goes."

Down year aside, the 21-year-old is excited to be drafted, let alone catching on with a club like the Red Sox.

"My emotions were awesome," he added. "Just to be selected by a team and hopefully to pursue my lifetime dream. It was a relief."

He's also excited to be playing in front of some of the best fans in sports as well.

"That area up there is unbelievable," said Marrero, who was a Cape Cod League All-Star last summer playing in Chatham. "They love their sports. They have a great reputation for every sport — NFL, NBA and definitely baseball. It's a great vibe up there. They all want to win and they want to win championships."

If Marrero turns out anything like Pedroia has, the Sox will have as good of a chance as any to contend for a few more of those championships in the future.

Photo via Facebook/Deven Marrero

Previous Article

Jenny Dell, Don Orsillo Attend Dave Matthews Band Concert in Toronto (Photo)

Next Article

Red Sox Hope Daniel Bard Can Correct Mechanics in Pawtucket, Still Envision Him as Starter For Now

Picked For You