Dustin Pedroia will help the Red Sox in all facets of the game

Dustin Pedroia is finally ready to return to the Red Sox lineup. His return should give a massive boost to Boston’s offense and defense.

The race between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees to win the AL East is about to get more interesting. Dustin Pedroia’s return to the Red Sox lineup could be a game changer for Alex Cora’s club.

The Boston Globe is reporting that the diminutive second baseman will be activated on Friday. His return to the active roster should send Eduardo Nunez to the bench. That will provide Boston with an obvious offensive boost. Nunez performed well as a bench player last season, but he’s been overmatched at the plate as a starter. Nunez is hitting a paltry .243 in 169 at bats on the young season.

Pedroia was significantly better than that last year even when battling injury. He finished last season with a healthy average of .293 in 463 plate appearances. Even if he doesn’t come back completely healed from his knee injury, he’s a solid bet to give the Red Sox lineup more pop than Nunez has provided thus far.

It might surprise people to learn that Pedroia will also give Boston an edge in the field. Nunez has really struggled to provide the team adequate defense at second base. He’s been a negative infielder by almost every available metric. Pedroia may not be a Gold Glover, but he has always been an above-average defensive infielder. His return to the lineup will be warmly welcomed by Boston’s pitching staff.

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Pedroia’s biggest impact on the team might be the mental edge he can provide them. He is one of the most confident players in all of baseball. The edge he can give his teammates in the dugout is a very underrated aspect of his return to Cora’s starting lineup. That effect might be impossible to quantify, but it might be enough to help Boston overcome the Yankees by season’s end.