Right fielder J.D. Drew admitted to taking a few cortisone shots to play through pain in the second half of the 2009 season but told The Boston Globe that after offseason surgery, he feels fully healed heading into spring training.
Bone spurs in his non-throwing shoulder were removed in the offseason via traditional surgery. Drew opted to stay away from arthroscopic surgery because that procedure would have had him sidelined for a longer period of time this past winter.
"I figured after I got that last cortisone shot and we got some time off in the offseason it would just heal itself up," he told the Globe. "But around Thanksgiving I called [trainer Mike Reinold] and just told him, 'Hey, this is not getting any better. It actually feels like it's getting worse."
Drew, who hit .279 with 24 homers and 68 RBIs in 137 games in 2009, admitted that the injury was a minor hindrance but is glad to put it behind him.
"There may have been some times I was affected playing with it, but not really that much," Drew said. "The second half of the year, I felt like I was swinging the bat as good as any point in my career. The bone spurs were just a nagging thing. Once the game started and the adrenaline started flowing, you really didn't think about it."
In three seasons with the Red Sox, Drew has hit .276 with 54 homers, 196 RBIs and an .875 OPS.
