Red Sox 2B Pedroia 'ahead of schedule' after knee surgery

Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia arrived at spring training camp on Saturday with a four-inch scar down the front of his left knee.

The 34-year-old Pedroia is not sure when he will be ready to play, but he told reporters he is "ahead of schedule" and pain free for the first time since last April. He underwent a cartilage restoration procedure after last season that he expects to prolong his career.

Pedroia isn't expected to be ready for the start of the 2018 season, but the Red Sox expect his return to the lineup sometime in May.

"The way it's worked out, it was the best decision I could have made," Pedroia said at JetBlue Park in Fort Myers, Fla., per the Boston Herald. "My knee doesn't hurt. Last year, waking up and walking around was painful. It's not fun to live your life like that. Having the surgery, I could tell immediately that I was feeling better. Not one time did I have any pain in the entire process. Now it's just building strength and getting back to being athletic and things like that and your body picks that up quick."

For now, he is confined to doing his work indoors on a weighted treadmill.

"I'm still excited and ready to go," Pedroia said. "It's just, they kind of have to make sure we look at the big picture and make sure I'm healthy through the remainder of my career, and I appreciate that from them. I kind of haven't taken that stance before, so it's been great.

"I'm on one of those weighted treadmill things at 80 percent weight. Next week, I go up for seven minutes. The week after, I'm supposed to go for 10 minutes. And then the week after that, I'm off that treadmill and running regular without the weight taken off. I'm ahead of schedule, so now it's just continuing with the process of it, and we'll go from there."

In 2017, Pedroia hit .293 with seven home runs and 62 RBIs in 105 games.

--Field Level Media