Welcome to Boston, Pablo Sandoval.
The new Red Sox third baseman didn’t have to wait long for getting a crash course on what it’s like to play in a baseball town that can get a little negative from time to time, to say the least. The free-agent signing reported to spring training earlier this week and a less-than-flattering photo did nothing to ease concerns some have stated about the third baseman’s weight.
However, Sandoval is taking everything in stride, and he’s already trying to ignore the noise.
“Let them talk, talk and criticize,” Sandoval told ESPN Deportes in a Spanish interview. “No matter what they say, it will never change me or the player that I am.”
The criticism that he does hear, Sandoval says, will be used as motivation.
“We live surrounded by critics, so let them talk, let them criticize me as much as they want,” he added, according to ESPN.com. “Ultimately that makes me a better player. What really matters is who you are when you step on the field, and I will let my bat and my glove speak for themselves. That’s the only way you can shut them up.”
Sandoval insisted the photo “caught me at a bad angle” (who hasn’t been there before?) and that he’s ready to show Red Sox fans “how hard I am working to be a champion.”
The past results kind of speak for themselves, too. Sandoval won two World Series with the San Francisco Giants and was a big factor in those wins. That was especially true last season when the Venezuelan hit .366 for the playoffs, including a .429 mark in the World Series.
Oh, and it appears he’s already making an impression in Fort Myers, according to this from The Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham.
[tweet https://twitter.com/PeteAbe/status/568439512159940610 align=’center’]
So, yeah, probably much ado about nothing for the time being.
Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@RedSox
