Reddick looking to bust out of recent slump

Reddick looking to bust out of recent slump

Reddick looking to bust out of recent slump
ARLINGTON -- Josh Reddick, who surged to the point where he over-took veteran J.D. Drew as Boston's primary right fielder, has gone into a serious funk of late.

Since Aug. 7, the night he had a walk-off hit against the Yankees, Reddick is 6-for-45 with one homer and two RBIs. But of late, things have gotten worse than that.

Entering Thursday night's game against the Rangers, Reddick had four hits in his last 31 at-bats, with no homers or RBIs.

However, the 24-year-old Reddick isn't panicking. In fact, he has a quiet confidence that this is all just part of the process.

"We're not trying to overdo things," Reddick said. "Everybody goes through slumps at points and times of the year. I just have to keep working and grind your way out of it. Don't try to do too much. Stay short to the ball. I'll come out of it."

The way Reddick looks at it, it's not a matter of pitchers adjusting to his early success and making adjustments. He just feels as if he's missing the pitches he was hitting earlier in the year.

"I don't feel like I'm getting pitched any different," said Reddick. "I'm seeing a lot of early offspeed pitches right now. They're just getting them for strikes. I find myself down 0-1 or 0-2 or 1-2 a lot.

"Pitches I'm getting over the plate, I'm missing, and I wasn't doing that at the beginning of the year. I've got to get back to the point where I'm not missing those pitches. Instead of hitting the pitchers' pitch, hitting my pitch. I'm definitely not getting pitched different, I don't think. There's just times where you struggle."

As recently as Aug. 6, Reddick was hitting .343. He entered Thursday's game hitting .289.

"It's tough, seeing numbers like that go down," said Reddick. "You don't see anybody hit that high anymore. It was good to start off that hot in case something like this did happen -- it wouldn't be a drastic drop like the low .200s. Luckily it's still up there in the high .280s, .290 range. Obviously I want to do better. This is a frustrating time. We've seen guys do it all year. You've just to keep grinding and get out of it."
