Salem Red Sox report: Gedman marches to his own beat

Matt Gedman

Aaron McFarling | 981-3124

Friday, August 9, 2013

I don't know about you/
But I'm feelin' twenty-twoooooooo...

Yep, Taylor Swift. The pop version.

Not exactly the howling guitars, pounding bass and barking hip-hop lyrics that fuel the majority of walk-up songs in the Carolina League.

Salem first baseman Matt Gedman does not care. He's using "22" every time he comes to bat - and it's working.

"It's definitely a good jam," Gedman said Thursday night after another multihit performance against Winston-Salem. "One day we were listening to it - me and [Nick] Natoli were driving in - and I said, ‘Man, this is a good song. I might use this as my walk-up.' He kind of joked around like, ‘You won't.' "

Oh, but he would. Never mind that Gedman is 24. He asked the game operations staff to cue up the chorus to "22" when he came up to bat one night last month. After having success at the plate, he decided to stick with it.

"It's a song that people in stands seem to like, plus it's a song they know and hear on the radio," Gedman said. "I know when I go to games, I like hearing songs that are familiar."

Superstition aside, Gedman has become one of the top threats in the Sox lineup over the past three weeks. Entering Friday's game, he'd hit safely in 17 of his past 18 contests, batting .382 (26 for 68) since July 8.

Gedman had raised his average to .292 - third on the team and second to Stefan Welch among players still on the roster.

The key, Gedman says, has been hitting the reset button every day. He struggled near the end of last season at Low Class A Lowell because he let the results of each game affect his mood the next day.

Not so this year.

"When your season's 140 games long, in the long scheme of things, one bad night's not going to kill you and one great night's not going to do too much for you," Gedman said. "It helps that we're in playoff push and every at-bat is meaningful, no matter if we're up big or down big. I'm just trying to go about my daily routine and not changing that too much."

Walk-up music included.

Monday, August 12, 2013