BALTIMORE – He shouldn’t have swung.

Josh Reddick had already taken his first major-league hacks on Friday, when the 22-year-old pinch-hit in the ninth inning. And so the experience of stepping into the batter’s box in the top of the second inning – his first at-bat of his first big-league start – did not represent a big-league first.

After a swing-and-miss on a 95 mph first-pitch fastball from Orioles starter David Herndandez, Reddick laid off a curveball that was just inside and then took a changeup away. Ahead in the count, 2-1, he then made the mistake of swinging at a pitcher’s pitch: a changeup down and away that might have clipped the strike zone at his knees.

Reddick – whose biggest developmental focus has been the refinement of an aggressive approach at the plate – nevertheless swung, seemingly a waste of  a hitter’s count. Yet somehow, though he lunged towards the ball, he still managed to adjust his hands so that he could put the barrel of the bat on the thing and drive it to the gap in right-center for a double, his first major-league hit. 

“I wasn’t looking for a certain pitch to hit,” said Reddick. “I was just trying to stay back, keep my head down, see a couple pitches and see what these guys had to offer. Luckily, I stayed back on a changeup, drove it to right-center field and kept my head down.”

That, in a nutshell, is Reddick, who in the past has shown an almost freakish ability because of exceptional hand-eye coordination to hit liners on pitches that, in theory, he shouldn’t swing at. In 2008, Sox farm director Mike Hazen offered this assessment while the outfielder was tearing up Single-A:

“There are some concerns with the pitch selection. At the same time, he's taking that ball that's five inches outside and rifling it down the third-base line. You're left sitting there going, 'Wow,'” said Hazen. “If you do what Reddick does, you have to be Vladimir Guerrero—maybe not with all those homeruns, but you have to be so good that when you hit the ball off your shoetops or over your head, you can't hit that ball. You need to hit a line drive. You need to hit that ball hard.

“There are very few in professional baseball who have that skill,” Hazen added. “If you're scouting off of that, going by the law of averages, you're going to fail. This guy shows an ability to really hit using that approach.”

That concern, however, has been a diminishing one this year. Reddick has made huge strides in his approach this year while at Double-A Portland. After walking 34 times in 521 plate appearances (once every 15.3 trips to the plate) in 2008, he walked 30 times in 287 plate appearances (1:9.6) for the Sea Dogs this year.

“I’m seeing the rotation of the ball. I had a bad problem of just watching the pitcher’s body rather than picking up his arm slot. This year I’m more focused on picking up the arm slot when he’s warming up, how he approaches other hitters,” said Reddick. “Recognizing that arm slot more than picking up the body has been a big factor for me. It’s really helped my success.”

Reddick showed a willingness to take pitches on Saturday as well. After falling behind 0-2 against left-hander Mark Hendrickson, he took the next four pitches for balls to take his first big-league walk. Later, he added a double in the seventh, becoming the first Red Sox player to collect two extra-base hits in his first career start since Rey Quinones did so on May 17, 1986. 

In addition to his increased focus on release point, the 22-year-old credits additional factors with his improved plate discipline this year. First, he was moved from the middle of the order to the leadoff role with the Sea Dogs this year.

That came as a bit of a surprise – a shock, even – following a year when he hit 23 homers and drove in 91 runs in 124 games at three levels last year. But the move has paid dividends.

“I’ve got to be that guy (who is more selective as a leadoff hitter), and it changed for me in my head,” said Reddick. “I guess that’s what they have planned for me when I get (to the majors), because I’m not going to be a power hitter here for a long time, if at all. It really wasn’t that bad.

“(The move to leadoff) was kind of frustrating at first because I wasn’t going to be the guy driving in runs this year,” he added. “I just had to deal with the fact that I wasn’t going to be that guy driving in runs, swallow it and put it away. It worked out for me.”

Reddick received another lesson in patience later in the year. He suffered an oblique strain at the end of April that wiped out his entire May. When he returned, he regressed to his more free-swinging approach that had typified his work in previous seasons.

Portland manager Arnie Beyeler informed Reddick that he needed to start taking until he saw a strike. Though that lasted for only about two weeks, Reddick says that the change in approach has stuck.

“It started working out really well for me,” he said. “I was swinging away early in counts when I needed to, and when I didn’t need to, just going ahead and taking that pitch – especially being the leadoff guy who needs to see a lot of pitches.”

While Reddick has added patience to his game, he has not sacrificed power. His .352 OBP is a tick better than that of teammate Lars Anderson, while his .520 slugging percentage is tops among any Portland regular this year. As his first career hit demonstrated, he has an ability to drive the ball that seems out of proportion with his 6-foot-2, 180-pound frame.

“When you see him in a uniform, it doesn’t show quite how strong this kid is. He’s kind of wiry,” said manager Terry Francona. “He’s an aggressive hitter. He’s worked hard to understand how to not get himself out because of the aggressiveness.”

In another organization, in fact, Reddick might already be knocking on the door of a starting job in the majors, or at least making a case to take over a starting job in 2010 (particularly given the potential free-agent status of Jason Bay). The Sox, however, are likely to proceed at a slightly more deliberate pace.

Presuming that he continues along his current developmental track in the Sox system, he seems more likely to become integrated into the major-league roster in the second-half of next season, with the potential to assume a starting role either by late 2010 or the start of the 2011 season. Even so, his initial days in the majors -- like his path to the majors -- have offered a tantalizing glimpse of what might be coming.