You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t have high praise for Xander Bogaerts, and that includes Dustin Pedroia.
Pedroia played with Bogaerts for seven seasons while he was with the Boston Red Sox and knew right away the shortstop was a different type of player — one who doesn’t come around too often.
“You could tell. I could always tell,” Pedroia told WEEI’s Rob Bradford on the latest “Bradfo Sho,” as transcribed by Bradford. “When Bogey got called up in San Francisco. I had to get him a couple of suits because his luggage didn’t arrive. Raquel (Ferriera) called me up and I said, ‘I got him. We’ll take care of him.’ The way he was appreciative. The way he acted when he walked in the clubhouse. Just the way we threw him in the fire. He was different, and he still is. Nothing bothers him. Always a good at-bat. Always under control. We knew once we threw him in there in the playoffs, he would be fine. He’s not emotional.”
Pedroia knows how important a player like Bogaerts is to a team.
“He’s just going to play the game. He’s just one of those guys you build a team around,” Pedroia told Bradford. “I’m saying that talent-wise and attitude-wise. Just his presence. He’s a guy I saw walk in and I was like, ‘All right, here is the next Red Sox for 15 years.’ I can tell. It is what it is.”
Bogaerts has a lot of eyes on him as he can opt out of his deal and test the free agent market. It first was reported earlier this season that the All-Star shortstop wouldn’t have extension talks during the season. But agent Scott Boras said during the All-Star Game that his “ears are always open.”
There haven’t been any recent talks between the Red Sox and Bogaerts about extending him, but it’s clear if it were up to Pedroia, Bogaerts would finish his career in Boston.
