Josh Reddick Credits Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz for Helping Him Find Power Stroke, Calls ‘Sweet Caroline’ Overrated

by abournenesn

Aug 17, 2012

Josh Reddick Credits Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz for Helping Him Find Power Stroke, Calls 'Sweet Caroline' OverratedJosh Reddick is having a big year out west for the Oakland A's, and is giving Red Sox fans a serious case of "what if?"-itis while watching the outfielder find his power stroke.

What they may be surprised to find, however, is that a couple of former Red Sox teammates — Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz – deserve some credit for helping Reddick hit all of those home runs.

"Last year, I wasn't really hitting for a lot of power and Pedroia told me, 'When you go into the offseason, don't focus on your upper body when you're lifting weights. Focus on your lower body,'" Reddick told Yahoo!'s Big League Stew during an extensive question-and-answer session.

"He said that he hadn't ever hit more than 15 home runs … and the regimen change worked for him. So I took that into perspective. And I've got 25 home runs already."

Reddick also credited Big Papi for helping him break out of an early-season slump by calling him and advising him to move up a half-step in the batters box.

"For those guys to take the time out of their day," Reddick said, "it makes me feel good that I made that good of an impression on those guys."

He was also asked about his thoughts on "Sweet Caroline," which Reddick called "overrated" because of how often he heard it played. So while Red Sox fans may like to have Reddick back in Boston bashing home runs, he seems glad about at least one perk of skipping town.

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