Dustin Pedroia has had an incredibly tough road coming back from a knee injury that’s limited him to just nine games in the last two seasons.
A situation David Wright is quite familiar with.
Wright was forced into retirement due to injuries after spending his 14-year career with the New York Mets. He too went through lengthy measures to try to attempt a comeback, but the injuries ultimately were too much.
Pedroia suffered a “significant setback” Jan. 23 during his recovery and is discussing his future with his family. The Boston Red Sox second baseman suffered the injury in 2017 when then-Baltimore Orioles third baseman Manny Machado aggressively slid into second, getting Pedroia’s knee in the process.
Pedroia never was the same after that, playing in just three games in 2018 and six in 2019. He’s undergone procedures, has been told he’ll need a full knee replacement at some point and has done everything in his power in order to make a comeback.
“I completely understand what he’s going through,” Wright said, per The Boston Globe’s Tara Sullivan. “I think as a competitor — and I’ve talked to Dustin about this particular subject because ultimately it’s got to be his decision — but I think everyone that’s competed, especially for us at the highest level of the game, everyone’s endgame and everyone’s goal is to go out on our own terms. We want to go out when we want to go out, and for me at least, that was the difficult part, where it was my body telling me I can’t do it anymore.”
This newest setback puts Pedroia’s career in jeopardy. He’s exhausted plenty of options and Wright knows it’s difficult when your mind and heart are telling you one thing, and your body is telling you the opposite.
“It’s almost like when I was going through the different issues and surgeries and trying to come back,” Wright said, “my mind was telling me, ‘You can do it, you can do it, you can do it,’ and my heart was saying, ‘You can do it, you can do it, you can do it,’ but then you’re body is telling you, ‘No you can’t, no you can’t, no you can’t.’ It took quite some time for my body, my heart, and my mind to match up.”
Only time will tell what the future holds for Pedroia. But if he does indeed have to call it quits, there’s no doubt he gave it a heck of a shot to make his way back to the diamond.
