Xander Bogaerts was fortunate to be surrounded by great leaders as he broke into the big leagues.
In addition to David Ortiz, Bogaerts was able to receive mentorship from Dustin Pedroia, widely regarded as one of the best teammates by Red Sox players over the past decade-plus. Pedroia certainly had a positive impact on Bogaerts, who spoke highly of his former teammate hours before the four-time All-Star's retirement ceremony at Fenway Park on Friday.
"He's someone that helped build the foundation that I have, you know? Especially since I got called up to the big leagues," Bogaerts told NESN's Jahmai Webster. "He was one of the main guys that taught me about routines, always having a plan whenever you're going to do something. The biggest thing, as I said, was building a routine, you know? It's either hitting, it's either taking ground balls. Trying to create a routine and trying to stick to that for as long as possible. Going through the ups and downs, everyone's going to go through that. It's the tough ones that come out of it."
Organizations across all major sports can greatly benefit from franchise players paying it forward to the next generation. Pedroia clearly did as much with Bogaerts, and the 2021 Red Sox are better for it.
